U.S. pending home sales fall to three-year low in January

CHICAGO, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- After three consecutive month-on-month rise in activity, U.S. pending home sales stumbled to their lowest level in over three years in January, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported on Wednesday.

The pending home sales index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, fell 4.7 percent to 104.6 in January from a downwardly revised 109.8 in December 2017, the lowest reading since October 2014, the NAR said.

NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun attributed the lower pending home sales to market inventory.

"The economy is in great shape, most local job markets are very strong and incomes are slowly rising, but there's little doubt (that) last month's retreat in contract signings occurred because of woefully low supply levels and the sudden increase in mortgage rates," he said.

Data showed that the number of signed contracts fell in January in every region in the United States, including a 9-percent drop in the Northeast and a 6.6-percent decline in the Midwest. The pending home sales fell by 3.9 percent in the South and 1.2 percent in the West.

In 2018, Yun forecasts for existing home sales to be around 5.50 million, roughly unchanged from 5.51 million in 2017. The national median existing-home price this year is expected to increase around 2.7 percent.

In 2017, the existing home sales increased 1.1 percent and the prices rose 5.8 percent. Enditem