The National Association of Realtors developed the pending home sales index as a leading indicator of housing activity. As such, it is a leading indicator of existing home sales, not new home sales. A pending sale is one in which a contract was signed, but not yet closed. It usually takes four to six weeks to close a contracted sale. Why Investors Care
| Released on 9/9/08 For Jul 2008 | |||||||||||||||
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Highlights
Pending home sales fell 3.2 percent in July to an index level of 86.5, offering no indication that the worst is over for the housing market. Sales showed high single digit percentage declines in the West and Northeast with the Midwest showing a small gain and the South unchanged. The only good news in the report is further moderation in the year-on-year rate, at -6.8 percent and improved from a long run of double digit decreases. But this improvement is tied more to comparison with depressed year-ago data than to the current pace of improvement. Given scarcity of available credit, the report sees little improvement ahead. Markets showed no initial reaction to the report though it may weigh on stocks and the dollar and pull Treasury yields lower through the session.
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