NAR: Home Sales Decline Slowing?

A leading indicator of existing-home sales edged down by only 1.1% in January, which may be signaling that the decline in homes sales over the past five months is beginning to level off, according to the National Association of Realtors.NAR chief economist David Lereah told CNBC-TV that the 1% decline could be a sign that home sales are "plateauing or reaching a new low," after declining by 9.3% since August. "This looks like we're touching down for the soft landing we've been expecting," Mr. Lereah said. The NAR reported that its index of pending homes sales slipped to 116.3 in January from a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 117.6 in December. The November to December decline in pending sales was 2.6%. The NAR can be found online at http://www.realtor.org.