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2026-02-19 23:12:07
[US pending home sales unexpectedly declined in January, with low inventory being the main reason] (1) US pending home sales contracts unexpectedly decreased in January, with real estate agents saying that low inventory was the main reason dragging down market transactions. (2) The National Association of Realtors (NAR) said on Thursday that the pending home sales index fell 0.8% month-on-month to 70.9 in January, far below the 1.3% month-on-month increase expected by economists surveyed by Reuters. The index indicates the actual trend of existing home sales one to two months later. (3) Regional performance was mixed: contracts declined in the Northeast and South, while the Midwest and West bucked the trend and rose, but failed to reverse the overall downward trend. (4) Year-on-year, pending home sales fell 0.4% in January. Low inventory continued to constrain market recovery, and even though mortgage rates fell, housing supply failed to keep up.
