As shown above, year-to-date home sales are down this year (233) as compared to last year (284). 

Many suspect that the long, cold winter may have made the first few months of the year slower than they would have otherwise been.  Per that theory, we should see a huge rebound in contracts (now / recently / soon) to help the 2014 market catch back up with where the 2013 market was last year.

Let's see what we're seeing thus far....

April contract numbers were strong in 2014, but not as strong as in 2013....

• 107 contracts in April 2014
• 116 contracts in April 2013

Now, let's look at the first 15 days of May, this year versus last year....

• 68 contracts between May 1, 2014 and May 15, 2014
• 71 contracts between May 1, 2013 and May 15, 2013

As you can see, over the past 45 days buyers have been buying at the same pace (actually a bit slower) than last year.  Thus far we're not seeing a rebound of higher buying numbers than last year at this time.

So, the big question -- we've seen an 18% decline in YTD sales so far in 2014 -- will that remain at -18% for the rest of the year?  Will 2014 pull even for no gain or loss?  Somewhere in between?  Theories, predictions and guesses are welcome!