NAR: Pending Home Sales Down 5.5% in July

(Image courtesy of NAR; Breakout image courtesy of Nik Cvetkovic/pexels.com)

The National Association of Realtors, Chicago, released pending home sales data, finding the metric fell 5.5% in July.

The Pending Home Sales Index–NAR’s forward-looking indicator of home sales based on contract signings–fell to 70.2 in July, the lowest reading since the inception of the index in 2001.

Pending transactions were down 8.5% year-over-year.

“A sales recovery did not occur in midsummer,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “The positive impact of job growth and higher inventory could not overcome affordability challenges and some degree of wait-and-see related to the upcoming U.S. presidential election.”

“Today’s report shows Pending Home Sales slowing down due to market conditions that are already beginning to ameliorate,” noted Max Slyusarchuk, CEO of A&D Mortgage, Hollywood, Fla. “We anticipate more home purchases to close out the remainder of the year, with a noticeable uptick in refinancings once rates begin to go down after next month’s Fed meeting. We expect monetary policy to continue to ease down rates for the remainder of the year, which will help spur home sales.”

The pending home sales index usually leads existing home sales data by a month or two.

On a regional basis, the Northeast index was down 1.4% from last month, but up 2.4% from July 2023.

“In terms of home sales and prices, the New England region has performed relatively better than other regions in recent months,” Yun noted.

The Midwest index was down 7.8% from June to 67.8. That’s also down 11.4% year-over-year.

The South index was down 6.5% from June to 83.5, down 11.5% from last year.

And, the West index was down 3.8% to 56.2 in July on a monthly basis, and down 6% year-over-year.