Time to crunch the numbers, people. The National Association of Realtors' pending home sales index was "designed to try measuring which way the housing market is going in the future." Definition: A home sale is pending when the contract has been signed but the sale hasn't closed. And here's the news on their Pending Home Sales Index, which overall "fell 12.2 percent to a reading of 89.9 in July from the June index of 102.4, and was 16.1 percent lower than July 2006 when it stood at 107.1."
By region, the West saw the biggest decrease: "The Northeast decreased 12.2% in July from June; it fell 10.0% from a year earlier. The Midwest decreased 13.1% in July from June; it fell 15.8% from last year. The South dropped 6.6% in July from June; it tumbled 15.2% since July 2006. The West decreased 20.8% in July from June; it fell 21.8% from a year earlier.
· Pending-Home Sales Fell 12% in July [Real Estate Journal]
· Pending Home Sales Index Falls Largely on Mortgage Tightening [NAR]