By Bani Sapra
AP Business Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer Americans signed contracts to buy homes in July, signaling that the housing market has yet to enjoy a strong bounce from lower mortgage rates.
The National Association of Realtors said last Thursday that its pending home sales index fell 2.5% to 105.6 in July.
The index has slipped 0.3% from a year ago as uncertainty has mounted about the health of the economy. With trade tensions and fears of a possible recession intensifying, a robust job market hasn’t been enough to strengthen sales.
Sales have also been hampered by the lack of available homes on the market, which has contributed to home prices climbing faster than incomes and pricing out some would-be buyers. The long-standing shortage of sales listings and persistently high prices have blunted the benefits of mortgage rates nearing all-time lows.
Ben Ayers, a senior economist at Nationwide, said the housing market was moving in fits and starts, reflecting the competing forces of low mortgage rates and a limited supply of homes, along with recession fears. Still, his outlook for the housing market remains solid.
“Sales activity continues to be weaker than expected, but there is nothing yet suggestive of a sharp pullback in the housing market,” Ayers said.
The pace of signed contracts dropped in all four regions of the country in July, with the West experiencing the greatest decline in activity.
Pending sales is a measure of home purchases that are usually completed a month or two later.
- Posted September 02, 2019
- Tweet This | Share on Facebook
Pending home sales slid 2.5% in July
headlines Oakland County
- Annual Dinner & Meeting
- FORCE Team arrests six in prolific auto theft ring
- Michigan allocates $12 million to support community-based organizations in advancing environmental and climate justice
- Oakland County and SMART launch pilot program providing free transit for veterans and dependents
- Supreme Court sides with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
headlines National
- More lawyers—and clients—want to learn about sustainable development practices
- Top artificial intelligence insurance tips for lawyers
- Lawyer charged with illegally transmitting Michigan data after 2020 election
- Viral video shows former Rikers Island inmate as she learns she passed bar exam on first try
- How Sullivan & Cromwell is scrutinizing potential new hires after campus protests
- No separate hearing required when police seize cars loaned to drivers accused of drug crimes, SCOTUS rules