Monday, September 04, 2006

Pending Home Sales Index Fell 7.0% in July, NAR Reports

By Benton Ives-Halperin
From Dow Jones Newswires

A gauge for future home demand fell sharply during July, the largest monthly drop since the index was created, indicating that the rate of home sales will be leveling out a lower pace in the months ahead.

The National Association of Realtors' index for pending sales of existing homes decreased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 7.0% to 105.6 from June's 113.5, the industry group said Friday.

July's index level is the lowest since February 2003, when it was 99.3.

And July's index reading was 16.0% below the level of July 2005.

David Lereah, NAR's chief economist, said the year-to-year numbers have been a good predictor of the actual pace of home sales.

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