A measure on pending home sales fell 2.6% in August from the month prior, but remain at elevated levels compared to a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors.
NAR’s Pending Home Sales index fell to 99.2 in August from a reading of 101.9 in July. The July figure was recently revised upward. (An index of 100 is equal to the average level of contract activity during 2001, the year the trade group began pending sales transactions.)
The index measures contracts, but not closings.
Contract activity in July marked the highest level since April 2010 when buyers were rushing to beat the expiration of a federal home buyer tax credit.
Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said the monthly readings can be volatile. “The performance in month-to-month contract signings has been uneven with ongoing shortages of lower priced inventory in much of the country, and across most price ranges in the West, but activity has remained at notably higher levels this year.”
Year-to-date existing-home sales are 9% above the same period last year. NAR estimates that existing home sales will climb 9% this year to 4.64 million units. Next year the trade group is forecasting sales of 5.02 million.
