Financial News: U.S. Pending Home Sales Unexpectedly Tumble To Six-Month

U.S. Pending Home Sales Unexpectedly Tumble To Six-Month Low

08/18/2026 - 10:16:00 (RTTNews)

(RTTNews) - The National Association of Realtors released a report on Tuesday showing pending home sales in the U.S. unexpectedly saw further downside in the month of July.

NAR said its pending home sales index slumped by 2.3 percent to 71.2 in July after tumbling by 4.8 percent to a revised 72.9 in June.

Economists had expected pending home sales to jump by 1.4 percent compared to the 5.4 percent plunge originally reported for the previous month.

A pending home sale is one in which a contract was signed but not yet closed. Normally, it takes four to six weeks to close a contracted sale.

With the unexpected decrease, NAR said the pending home sales index dropped to its lowest level since hitting 70.8 in January.

"The highest mortgage rates of the year hit right in the middle of summer, and that's pulling back contract signings," said NAR Chief Economist Dr. Lawrence Yun.

He added, "Home prices are at record highs so houses for sale are sitting on the market longer, and fewer buyers are bidding above the asking price than a year ago, though there are large local market variations."

The slump in pending home sales in July partly reflected weakness in the West, where pending home sales plummeted by 4.7 percent.

Pending home sales in the South and Northeast also slumped by 2.2 percent and 2.0 percent, respectively, while pending home sales in the Midwest slid by 0.7 percent.

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