Having slipped in July, the National Association of Realtors Pending Home Sales Index, for which 100 denotes “an average level” of activity, dropped 2.6 percent in August to 106.3 which is 2.6 percent below the same time last year and the lowest reading since January 2016.
And with the index having fallen for five out of the past six months, the National Association of Realtors is now forecasting that total existing home sales in 2017 will total 5.44 million which would be down 0.2 percent versus 2016. And of course, new home sales in the US have slipped as well despite the most available inventory on the market since 2009.
In the West, the index for pending home sales dropped to 101.3 percent in August which is down 1.0 percent from July and 2.4 percent lower versus the same time last year.
Seems a lot of these are pointing to a market that is slowing down from its elevated levels (sales and price gains both) from the last couple of years. Also I think we are seeing a return to a more normal real estate market where various geographic markets are moving independently from each other after almost a decade and a half of a relatively national boom, bust, and recovery.