U.S. pending home sales down 1.7 percent in October

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) announced on Wednesday its seasonally adjusted pending home sales index (PHSI) fell 1.7 percent m-o-m to 106.7 in October, after an unrevised 1.5 percent m-o-m gain in September.

Economists had expected pending home sales to increase 0.8 percent m-o-m in October.

On y-o-y basis, the index climbed 4.4 percent after a 3.9 percent increase in September. That was the largest annual advance in pending home sales since December 2015.

According to the report, almost all regional indices recorded m-o-m declines in October. The only exception was the PHSI in the Northeast, which rose 1.9 percent m-o-m to 95.7 in October, 3.0 percent higher than a year ago. In the Midwest, the index slid 2.7% to 101.4 last month, 1.8% higher than in October 2018. Meanwhile, the index in the West declined 3.4 percent m-o-m in October 2019 to 91.9, which was an increase of 7.5 percent from a year ago, the index in the Midwest fell 2.7 percent m-o-m to 101.4 last month, 1.8 percent higher than in October 2018, and the index in the South dropped 1.7 percent m-o-m to 125.3 in October, a 5.1 percent advance from last October.