As pending home sales slowed to the weakest level in over a year-and-a-half, the outlook for this year’s single-family sales was lowered due to hurricanes.
A forward-looking indicator of home sales based on contract signings, the Pending Home Sales Index, was reported Wednesday at a seasonally adjusted 106.3 for August.
In addition to declining 3 percent from the last report, it was the lowest level for the index since January 2016, when the index was previously reported to be 106.0.
The National Association of Realtors, which reported the data Wednesday, said the seasonally adjusted index was an upwardly revised 109.1
in August 2016.
“August was another month of declining contract activity because of the one-two punch of limited listings and home prices rising far above incomes,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in the report. “Demand continues to overwhelm supply in most of the country, and as a result, many would-be buyers from earlier in the year are still in the market for a home, while others have perhaps decided to temporarily postpone their search.”
Leading the month-over-month decline was the Northeast,
where the index fell more than 4 percent to 93.4.
Next was a nearly 4 percent drop in the South to 118.8, then a 2 percent reduction in the Midwest to 101.8, and a 1 percent dip in the West to 101.3.
“The supply and affordability headwinds would have likely held sales growth just a tad above last year, but coupled with the temporary effects from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, sales in 2017 now appear will fall slightly below last year,” Yun said.
