Pending home sales declined 2.2 percent in December compared with November, the National Association of Realtors reported.
Contract signings are down 9.8 percent compared with December 2017.
“The stock market correction hurt consumer confidence, record high home prices cut into affordability, and mortgage rates were higher in October and November for consumers signing contracts in December,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement regarding the reasons for the month’s sales decrease.
Yun said the recent partial government shutdown had not caused any obvious damage to home sales and that 75 percent of realtors had reported no impacts from the shutdown.
Pending home sales in December rose 2.0 percent in the Northeast and 1.7 percent in the West, while the Midwest and South had declines of 0.6 percent and 5 percent, respectively.
