After nine months without a positive gain, the Pending Home Sales Index - a forward-looking contract signing indicator - rose 3.4 percent in March, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). This gain, however, must be tempered with the fact that it remains nearly 8 percent lower than the 105.7 it was in March 2013.

NAR's chief economist, Lawrence Yun, attributed much of the increase to the seasonal change in the weather, from winter to spring. Prospective buyers had more of an opportunity to physically go out and look at homes, which has led to more contracts being offered, Yun said. He also indicated that he expects sales activity to continue to rise as more available homes reach the market and more jobs become available to pump more life into the overall economy.

Sales of homes are predicted to trend upward during the months of the forthcoming year, as well as into 2015; however, this year came in on a sour note, meaning the 2014 sales totals will probably not match the 2013 level.

The expectation for 2014's existing-home sales is slightly more than 4.9 million this year, which would fall close to the 5.1 million in 2013. With the available homes for sale continuing to fall short of expectations in much of the United States, however, the national median existing-home price is predicted to rise about 6 or 7 percent in 2014.