Contrary to expectations, pending home sales lost steam last month — and it was a weakening in the West that was out front of the decline.
The Pending Home Sales Index, an indication of future residential sales that is based on contract signings, was 106.9 in November.
That turned out to be a decline for the index compared to the previous month, when it came in at an upwardly revised level of 107.9.
The National Association of Realtors published the latest index on Wednesday.
It was the third month-over-month decline for the
index during the past four months, according to the trade group.
Pending home sales were worse than expected by economists surveyed by Bloomberg, with the median forecast by the group having come in at an 0.7 percent increase from October.
Lawrence Yun, chief economist for NAR, attributed the weakness to home prices that are increasing too sharply in several markets, a weakening economic recovery and waning supply levels.
But NAR said that pending home sales were still better than one year previous, with a nearly three percent year-over-year gain reported.
The index has risen on a year-over-year basis for 15 consecutive months, though the latest increase was the smallest since October 2014.
In the West, pending home sales were down nearly six percent from October, the worst decline of any region, NAR reported.
A three percent month-over-month drop was recorded for the Northeast.
But the index was up one percent in November for the Midwest, while the South saw a more than one percent increase.
