A measure of U.S. home sales based on signed contracts dropped to a 2-year low in April, the latest in a string of data points suggesting the housing market may be heading into choppier waters.
Contracts to buy previously owned homes fell 3.9 percent last month to a reading of 99.3, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) said in a May 26 statement. That’s the sixth consecutive month that NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index has retreated, with April’s reading being the lowest in two years.
“Pending contracts are telling, as they better reflect the timelier impact from higher mortgage rates than do closings,” Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said in a statement….