Having dropped 1.5 percent in April, the National Association of Realtors Pending Home Sales Index, for which 100 denotes “an average level” of activity, ticked up 1.1 percent in May to 105.4 but remains 0.7 percent lower on a year-over-year basis and 6.1 percent below a cyclical high of 112.3 recorded in early 2017.
At the same time, the inventory of homes on the market at the end of May ticked up 4.9 percent to 1.92 million homes, which is 2.7 percent higher versus the same time last year.
And out West, the regional Pending Home Sale Index actually dropped another 1.8 percent in May to 91.8, which is 3.1 percent below its mark at the same time last year. The pace of sales in San Francisco has dropped as well.