Dive Brief:

• The National Association of Realtors said its monthly index of pending home sales, based on queries to firms around the nation, slipped 0.8% from January to February, its eighth down report in a row, hitting 93.9.
• The group's chief economist, Lawrence Yun, went for the silver lining, however, noting that the change was not large, the survey found real estate agents reporting an increase in buyer traffic and low numbers may be owed to weather issues over the winter.
• The association is expecting existing-home sales to be just under 2013's mark of 5.1 million, and it expects housing starts to go up 19% this year.

Dive Insight:

In the NAR analysis for the rest of this year, the increase in housing starts will vent some of the supply-driven pressure on house prices. Yun expects the median price for an existing house to go up 5.5% to 6%, well under 2013's 11.5% rise.