US pending home sales rise in June, stay less than market expectations

The United States pending home sales rose during the month of June, although it stayed less than what the markets had expected. 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.

US pending home sales index edged up by 0.2 percent to 111.0 in June after tumbling by 3.7 percent to 110.8 in May. Market participants had expected the index to jump by 1.3 percent, data released by the National Association of Realtors showed Wednesday.

The modest uptick in pending home sales reflected a substantial increase in pending sales in the Northeast, which surged up by 3.2 percent. Pending home sales in the Midwest also rose by 0.8 percent, while pending sales in the South fell by 0.6 percent and pending sales in the West tumbled by 1.3 percent.

Further, on an annual basis, pending sales in June were 1.6 percent to 1.8 percent higher than in June 2015 in every region except the West, where they were down by a similar magnitude. The association said that constraints in supply and affordability laid off the boosts in activity from mortgage rates that hovered around near all-time lows through most of the month.

Meanwhile, sales of existing homes in June rose at the fastest pace in nearly a decade, according to data released by NAR last week. New home sales, which account for about 10 percent of the market, were up about 10 percent in the first six months of 2016 over the same period a year ago, according to data released by the Commerce Department on Tuesday.