Getty Images A "SOLD" sign is visible atop a realtor's "FOR SALE" sign in front of a house in Park Ridge, Illinois.
The numbers: U.S. pending home sales sank 1.8% in August, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday.
What happened: NAR’s index, which tracks real-estate transactions in which a contract has been signed but the transaction hasn’t yet closed, was lower than its year-ago levels for the eighth month in a row in August, this time by 2.3%. August marked the fourth straight monthly decline as well.
Economists had forecast an unchanged reading.
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Big picture: There still aren’t enough homes to buy, and what's left over is too pricey and picked-over to tempt most buyers. Rising mortgage rates won’t lead to a “significant decline,” NAR said in a release, but with little momentum in the market, they won’t help, either.
In August, pending home sales in the Northeast dropped 1.3%, while in the South they were down 0.7%. In the Midwest, sales inched back 0.5%, and in the West, the priciest region of the country, they slid 5.9%.
Pending sales lead actual closings by about six weeks, so the report out Thursday doesn’t bode well for future activity.
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What they’re saying: One report after another confirms that energy in the housing market is fizzling out. Earlier this month, the Realtor industry group reported that sales of existing homes were unchanged in August compared to July, a welcome relief after multiple months of declines. The pace of price gains also moderated, but remains well above levels that most buyers can manage.
NAR forecasts a sales decline for 2018, but remains optimistic that more inventory will help perk up sales next year.
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