Pending Home Sales Slip

Pending home sales, a forward-looking indicator of housing market activity, slipped by 0.7% to 88.9 in October, down from a reading of 89.5 in September, according to the National Association of Realtors. The level of pending sales is one percentage point lower than a year ago. Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the NAR, said pending home sales have been "remarkably stable" over the past year given the environment of economic turmoil. "We did see a spike in August when mortgage conditions temporarily improved, which underscores two things - there is pent-up demand, and access to safe, affordable mortgages will bring more buyers into the market." Pending home sales improved from year-earlier levels in both California and Florida, markets that have been hard-hit by the housing downturn.