INSTANT VIEW 3: Pending home sales fall in March

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pending sales of previously owned homes fell 1 percent in March, as expected, as turmoil in the housing and mortgage markets continued, a real estate trade group report on Wednesday showed. KEY POINTS: * The National Association of Realtors Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed in March, fell 1 percent to 83.0 and was 20.1 percent lower than the March 2007 index. * Economists were expecting the decline in these contracts, which are a good barometer of future home sales. * The association's chief economist, Lawrence Yun, said the availability of affordable mortgages is uneven, contributing to the slowdown. COMMENTS: CARLEY GARNER, SENIOR ANALYST, ALARON TRADING, LAS VEGAS:

"Knowing the situation in the housing market, I don't see any major surprises. The number came in line with market expectations. The Treasury market had priced that in beforehand and that is why you got a little bit of a bid going into the number, which faded once the news was reported. We are seeing more technical trades than fundamental trades at this point." KEVIN LOGAN, SENIOR U.S. ECONOMIST, DRESDNER KLEINWORT, NEW YORK:

"The clampdown on all these Alt-A mortgages -- you can't get 100 percent loan-to-value mortgages anymore -- and falling home prices, are going to keep the housing market in the doldrums for quite a while." MARTY MITCHELL, HEAD OF GOVERNMENT BOND TRADING, STIFEL NICOLAUS, BALTIMORE:

"Frankly the housing story is pretty much in the market at this point and I am not seeing much of a reaction off that number."

"There is curve steepening into the refunding. We've steepened about 20 basis points from the lows we put in on Friday."

"It is all supply related. It's going to bring 10s today and 30s tomorrow." DAVID WYSS, CHIEF ECONOMIST, STANDARD & POOR'S RATINGS SERVICES, NEW YORK:

"This is not a shock. The pace of sales seems to be stabilizing but that's the best you could say about it. But I don't think we've hit a bottom yet."

"Combining this with the other data, the housing market is continuing downward and it won't bottom until this summer or some time in Q3." STEVE GOLDMAN, MARKET STRATEGIST, WEEDEN & CO, GREENWICH, CONNECTICUT:

"The pending home sales number was not a surprise. It was in line. I'm not sure it had any bearing on the market other than the fact that the market has had an 11 percent rally, and came to about 9 percent away from news highs, and we could have profit-taking given the rally we've been in." PIERRE ELLIS, SENIOR ECONOMIST, DECISION ECONOMICS, NEW YORK:

"The report was reassuringly close to expectations which will encourage more confidence that the market for existing homes has stabilized. But there is still a problem of enormous inventories that will keep downward pressure on prices and there is a lingering risk that a deflation mentality will make people hesitate to buy." MARKET REACTION: * BONDS: U.S. Treasury debt prices hold gains. * CURRENCIES: U.S. dollar holds gains against yen and euro. * STOCKS: U.S. equity indexes hold losses. * RATE FUTURES: U.S. short-term interest rate futures rise slightly, point to 16 percent chance of June rate cut versus a 14 percent chance before the data.