IFR-Preview-U.S. April existing home sales seen rising

WHAT: National Association of Realtors Existing Home Sales,

April
WHEN: Tuesday 1000 EDT (1400 GMT)

FORECASTS (annual rates) Reuters IFR Previous
Total Sales, mln units 4.60 4.55 4.48

IFR COMMENTARY: "Existing home sales likely rose to a pace of
about 4.55 mln in April, from March's preliminary reading of
4.48 mln. That would mean sales have come down a touch since the
beginning of the year, but remain at a pace that still looks
quick enough to keep inventory coming down after accounting for
seasonality. The unadjusted inventory numbers usually see a
large bounce in April, and we expect them to rise somewhat less
than usual.

The Pending Home Sales Index, which tends to lead existing
home sales by about a month and a half, was up 0.4% in February
and 4.1% in March. Despite tight credit supply, falling mortgage
rates have been helping affordability, on top of which we
continue to see relatively large shares of all-cash and investor
purchases.

Shadow inventory appears to have peaked, helping prices
stabilize as the greatly swollen supply of cut-rate distressed
homes starts coming down slowly. We still haven't seen any
significant impact from the mortgage settlement, which was only
recently signed off on. Distressed sales fell more than overall
sales did last month, while non-distressed sales reached a new
post-homebuyer tax credit high."

-- by Theodore Littleton of IFR Markets, a unit of Thomson
Reuters.