Record Drop in Pending Home Sales
September 5th, 2007Via: CNN:
The meltdown in the mortgage market caused the biggest drop on record in July for pending home sales, taking the index down to the lowest level since the month that included the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack.
The National Association of Realtors’ pending home sales index, which measures contracts to buy existing homes, fell 12.2 percent to a reading of 89.9. It the second lowest reading on record for the seven-year old index, trailing only the 89.8 reading in September 2001.
The biggest drop on record for pending home sales is likely to put more downward pressure on home prices.
“There’s bad reports and then there’s truly awful ones. This is clearly the latter,” said Mike Larson, real estate analyst for independent research firm Weiss Research. “Even I’m shocked by a 12 percent decline.”
