Research Center

Pending U.S. home sales gained more in November than during any month since the frenetic run-up to the homebuyers tax credit in the spring of 2010, according to the National Association of Realtors on Thursday.

After some worry that U.S. shoppers weren’t in such a jolly mood ahead of Christmas, at least in terms of how much they were willing to spend, it seems that on the whole retailers did well this holiday.

The housing market still has that sinking feeling, with the latest Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller indexes describing downward movements in prices in almost all major U.S. markets in October.

The pre-Christmas shopping numbers aren’t in yet but sales increased nationwide during the week ending Dec. 17, putting this December on track to have higher retail sales than December last year.

The U.S. Department of Labor reported that the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits dropped 4,000 to 364,000 for the week ending Dec. 17.

The National Association of Realtors reported on Wednesday that existing home sales rose again in November compared with October and with the same month a year ago.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported that housing starts swung upward by 9.3 percent in November to an annualized rate of 685,000 units.

RealtyTrac reported on Thursday that U.S. foreclosure filings–meaning all default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions, according to the company–were down 3 percent in November from the previous month, to a total of 224,394.