Pending Home Sales Inch Upward 0.7% in May

Pending home sales broke a six-month streak of declines by inching upward 0.7% in May, the National Association of Realtors reported.

Compared with May 2021, however, pending home sales fell 13.6%.

“Despite the small gain in pending sales from the prior month, the housing market is clearly undergoing a transition,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement. “Contract signings are down sizably from a year ago because of much higher mortgage rates.”

Regionally, month-over-month pending home sales increased 15.4% in the Northeast, 0.2% in the South and 5.0% in the West. Pending home sales in the Midwest fell 1.7%. Compared with May 2021, pending home sales were down in every region.

The full NAR report can be found here.