After new- and existing-home sales tumbled, it should have been no surprise that pending home sales dropped in April. The 3.9% MoM decline was almost double the 2.1% drop expected and is the 6th straight monthly decline in sales (the longest losing streak since 2018)...
Source: Bloomberg
Pending home sales are now down 11.5% YoY - the biggest YoY drop outside of the great financial crisis (ex COVID lockdowns and the homeowner tax credit anomalies in 2010).
“Pending contracts are telling, as they better reflect the timelier impact from higher mortgage rates than do closings,” NAR’s chief economist Lawrence Yunsaid in a statement.
“Home prices in the meantime appear in no danger of any meaningful decline.”
Outside of the COVID lockdown drop, this is the weakest SAAR since 2014...
Source: Bloomberg
Contract signings fell in all regions but the Midwest....