Pending home sales fell for the second month in a row, according to the National Association of Realtors…(NAR)
M-O-M: The Pending Home Sales Index fell 1.8% to 110.7 in July. Forecasts had sales rising a slight 0.5%.
Y-O-Y: Signings fell 8.5% when compared to the same time last year
NOTE: An index of 100 is equal to the level of contract activity in 2001.
Regionally, the West was the only region the green with a 1.9% increase month-over-month to an index of 99.8. This, however, was still down 5.7% when compared to the same time last year.
- The South had the smallest decline at 0.9% month-over-month to an index of 130.9 which is down 6.7% from July 2020. In the Midwest, the index dropped 3.3% to 104.6 which is down 8.5% from July 2020. The Northeast fell 6.6% to 92.0 which is down 16.9% from a year ago.
Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said even with a cooling market supply is not meeting demand but there is a light at the end of the tunnel…
- “The market may be starting to cool slightly, but at the moment there is not enough supply to match the demand from would-be buyers…That said, inventory is slowly increasing and home shoppers should begin to see more options in the coming months.”
NOTE: Yun said that as of July, 27% of buyers bypassed appraisal and inspection contingencies…