In brighter news, pending home sales rose 8.2 percent in May. On the Pending Home Sales Index calculated by the National Association of Realtors, this is 13.4 percent higher than the rate seen in May 2010. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, sees this as positive movement. "Absorption of inventory is the key to price improvement, and this solid gain in contract signings implies that home values in many localities are or will soon be stabilizing as inventories get absorbed at a faster pace, he said. "Some markets have made a rapid turnaround, going from soft activity to contract signings rising by more than 30 percent from a year ago.