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Economy in Brief

U.S. Pending Home Sales Decline
by Tom Moeller  July 26, 2012

Pending sales of single-family homes fell 1.4% last month after a little revised 5.4% May rise, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Sales have risen nearly one-third versus the 2010 low. Nevertheless, the sales index of 99.3 was down 21.8% versus the April 2005 peak.

Sales fell last month across most of the country led by a 7.6% decline (+12.2% y/y) in the Northeast followed by a 2.0% fall (+8.8% y/y) in the South. Sales also slipped 0.4% (+17.3% y/y) in the Midwest but gained 2.6% (3.0% y/y) in the West.

Pending home sales figures are analogous to the new home sales data from the Commerce Department in that they measure existing home sales when the sales contract is signed, not at the time the sale is closed. The series dates back to 2001 and the data are available in Haver's PREALTOR database.

How Big is the Output Gap? from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta can be found here.

 

Pending Home Sales (2001=100) Jun May Apr Y/Y% 2011 2010 2009
Total 99.3 100.7 95.5 9.5 90.3 89.2 94.7
Northeast 76.6 82.9 79.1 12.2 68.0 70.9 76.8
Midwest 94.4 94.8 93.0 17.3 81.6 79.9 88.9
South 106.2 108.4 105.7 8.8 98.3 97.0 98.4
West 111.5 108.7 94.9 3.0 104.2 100.8 109.2
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