NEW YORK - Pending home sales slid 1.8% to a reading of 80.9 in October from a revised 4.4% rise to 82.4 in September, originally reported as a 4.3% gain to 82.3, according to an index released Friday by the National Association of Realtors.
Year-over-year the pending homes sales index was down 24.9% from last September, when the index was 107.8.
Regionally, pending sales were mostly lower. The Northeast saw a 1.7% decrease to 59.6, while sales slid 5.7% to 64.2 in the Midwest. In the South sales slipped 3.5% to 87.6, while in the West, pending sales gained 3.5% to 104.6.
“Existing-home sales have shown some improvement but the foreclosure moratorium is likely to cause some disruption and contribute to an uneven sales performance in the months ahead,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said. “Nonetheless, there appears to be a pent-up demand that eventually will be unleashed as banks resolve their issues with foreclosures and the labor market improves. However, tight credit and appraisals coming in below a negotiated price continue to constrain the market,” he said.
“Mortgage interest rates currently are bouncing along the bottom, but are expected to gradually rise and average 4.9 percent next year, then rise to 5.8 percent in 2012,” Yun said.
