U.S. housing has an encouraging start to Q2

U.S. pending home sales jumped 3.4% in April, tripling expectations, and are now  14.0% above a year ago, the most since September 2012. 

Gains weren't limited to just one particular region. All four corners of the country saw more contracts signed (some more than others)......Northeast (+10.1%), Midwest (+5.0%), South (+2.3%), and West (+0.1%).

"This improvement in pending sales hints that we will see existing home sales redeem themselves in May, after taking a surprise downturn (of 3.3%) in April. The report is released on June 22nd." notes BMO Capital Markets