Having dropped 1.3 percent in April, the National Association of Realtors Pending Home Sales Index, for which 100 denotes an average level of activity, slipped another 0.8 percent in May to an above average 108.5 but is running 1.7 percent lower than the same time last year.
In the West, the index dropped 1.3 percent to a below average 98.6 and is running 4.5 percent lower on a year-over-year basis versus 5.0 percent higher at the end of 2016.