The housing market was even weaker in October than expected.
Pending home sales, based on signed contracts to buy existing homes, fell 2.6 percent compared with September, for a year-over-year decline of 6.7 percent.
Last month, however, pending sales broke a long-streak of month-over-month declines. That flicker of hope for the housing market, which has been the weakest part of an otherwise very strong economy, was effectively extinguished by October’s data.
On a year-over-year basis, this gauge of the housing market has fallen for ten months in a row.
The disappointing data on Thursday follows close on the heels of lower-than-expected new home sales data on Wednesday. These fell 12 percent year-over-year, according to the U.S. Census.
The decline in sales is largely blamed on a decline in affordability. Home prices are up by more than incomes and mortgage rates have climbed as the Fed hiked rates this year.
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