U.S. Pending Home Sales Fell in June, Missing Expectations -- NAR
30 July 2021 - 12:16AM
Dow Jones News
By Xavier Fontdegloria
The number of houses going under contract in the U.S. declined
in June after rising the previous month, data from the National
Association of Realtors showed Thursday. Here are the report's main
takeaways:
--The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator of
home sales based on contract signings, decreased 1.9% to 112.8 in
June compared with the previous month.
--Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal expected the
indicator to increase by 0.5% on month.
--Pending home sales were down 1.9% in June compared with the
same month a year earlier.
--"Pending sales have seesawed since January, indicating a
turning point for the market," said Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief
economist. The moderate slowdown in sales is largely due to the
spike in home prices, he said. "Buyers are still interested and
want to own a home, but record-high home prices are causing some to
retreat," he said.
--Month-over-month transactions increased slightly in the
Midwest and the Northeast, by 0.6% and 0.5%, respectively. However,
activity fell in the South and the West, with monthly declines of
3% and 3.8%, respectively.
Write to Xavier Fontdegloria at xavier.fontdegloria@wsj.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 29, 2021 10:14 ET (14:14 GMT)
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