NEW YORK - Pending home sales declined 4.6% to a reading of 84.5 in September from an unrevised 1.2% increase to 88.6 in August, according to a report released Thursday by the National Association of Realtors.
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters predicted a 0.1% decrease for the index.
Year-over-year the pending homes sales index is up 6.4% from last September, when the index was 79.4.
Regionally, pending sales were lower. The Northeast saw a 4.7% decrease to 60.6, while sales slumped 6.2% in the Midwest to 71.5, sales fell 5.5% to 91.6 in the South, and sales slipped 2.1% to 105.8 in the West.
“A combination of weak consumer confidence and continuing tight lending criteria held back home buyers, even though the private sector added nearly 2 million net new jobs in the past 12 months,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said. “America’s monetary policy is contradictory and confusing, where some consumers with the best financial capacity and top-notch credit scores pay higher mortgage interest rates,” he said. “The Federal Reserve evidently has been attempting to lower mortgage rates, yet more consumers are faced with taking out jumbo loans that carry higher interest rates.”
