U.S. Pending Home Sales Unexpectedly Decrease In June
(RTTNews) - Pending home sales in the U.S. unexpectedly decreased in the month of June, according to a report released by the National Association of Realtors on Wednesday.
NAR said its pending home sales index slid by 0.8 percent to 72.0 in June after jumping by 1.8 percent to 72.6 in May. Economists had expected pending home sales to rise by 0.2 percent.
A pending home sale is one in which a contract was signed but not yet closed. Normally, it takes four to six weeks to close a contracted sale.
"The data shows a continuation of small declines in contract signings despite inventory in the market increasing," said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun.
The unexpected pullback by pending home sales partly reflected weakness in the West, where pending home sales plunged by 3.9 percent.
Pending home sales in the Midwest and South also decreased by 0.8 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively, while pending home sales in the Northeast surged by 2.1 percent.
"Pending sales in the Northeast increased incrementally even though home price growth in the region has been the strongest in the country," said Yun.
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