NEW YORK - Pending home sales fell 2.6% to a reading of 75.7 in June, a record low, from a revised 29.9% decrease to 77.7 in May, originally reported as a 30.0% decrease to 77.6, according to an index released today by the National Association of Realtors.
Thomson Reuters’ poll of economists had predicted a 79.0 reading.
Year-over-year the pending homes sales index was down 18.6% from last June, when the index was 93.0.
Regionally, pending sales were mostly lower. The Northeast saw a 12.2% decrease to 58.8, while sales fell 9.5% to 64.1 in the Midwest. In the South sales climbed 3.7% to 85.8, while in the West, pending sales declined 0.2% to 85.1.
“There could be a couple of additional months of slow home-sales activity before picking up later in the year, provided the job market continues to improve,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said. “Over the short term, inventory will look high relative to home sales. However, since home prices have come down to fundamentally justifiable levels, there isn’t likely to be any meaningful change to national home values. Some local markets continue to show strengthening prices,” he said.
“We really need to see stronger job creation to have a meaningful recovery in the housing markets,” Yun said.
