U.S. Pending Home Sales Further Decrease in December -- NAR

By Xavier Fontdegloria

The number of houses going under contract in the U.S. fell in December for the fourth consecutive month, data from the National Association of Realtors showed Friday. Here are the report's main takeaways:

--The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator of home sales based on contract signings, fell 0.3% to 125.5 in December. This marks the fourth straight month of declines, following four months of unseasonal surge and reaching in August the highest level in the historical series at 132.90.

--Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal expected the indicator to decrease by 0.2%. In November, the index decreased by 2.6%.

--Pending home sales were up 21.4% in December compared with the same month a year earlier. The reading registered as the highest ever recorded in the month of December.

-- The decline in pending home sales contracts during recent months can be attributed to having too few homes for sale, said Lawrence Yun, the National Association of Realtors' chief economist. "There is a high demand for housing and a great number of would-be buyers, and therefore sales should rise with more new listings," he said.

--Month-over-month contract transactions in December fell in one of the four major U.S. regions, while activity climbed or remained flat in the three other areas. Activity fell in the Midwest by 3.6%, it remained broadly stable in the West and the South, with zero and 0.1% increase, respectively, and it rose in the Northeast, by 3.1%.

Write to Xavier Fontdegloria at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-29-21 1014ET