US existing home sales likely to have flattened in July

Existing home sales in the US is likely to have flattened out in July. It had increased at a stable and unspectacular pace from March by 4 percent in June. But the corresponding increase in the pending home sales index that rose around 9 percent from February to April foreshadowed those increases, stated Societe Generale in a research report.

The pending home sales index dropped 3.7 percent in May, but the re-sales rose 1.1 percent in the next month. This is possibly a catch-up to the firmer increase in the pending measure in the earlier months.

The pending index barely changed in June. In the May-June period, the index dropped 3.5 percent, implying that the existing homes sales are expected to have slightly fallen in July. But with the pending index outpacing the recorded rise in re-sales in the past many months, the existing home sales are expected to have flattened out at 5.55 million units in July, added Societe Generale.