US: Pending home sales declined 2.6% in October

"The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, decreased 2.6 percent to 102.1 in October, down from 104.8 in September," the National Association of Realtors reported on Thursday.

Key takeaways from the press release

• Year-over-year contract signings dropped 6.7 percent, making this the tenth straight month of annual decreases.
• Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist: The recent rise in mortgage rates have reduced the pool of eligible homebuyers.
  • However, mortgage rates are much lower today compared to earlier this century, when mortgage rates averaged 8 percent.
  • Additionally, there are more jobs today than there were two decades ago.
  • So, while the long-term prospects look solid, we just have to get through this short-term period of uncertainty.
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