The number of pending home sales in the United States has declined by 2.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted reading of 106.8 in September.
Pending home sales measure home purchases before they reach closing. It marks the second-lowest level of the year and the second consecutive monthly drop.
Wall Street Journal reported that the National Association of Realtors (NAR) attributed the decline in pending home sales to the shortage of home listings that have limited buyer options, particularly at the lower end of the market and the recent stock-market volatility that may have rattled prospective buyers.
"The rockiness in the financial markets at the end of the summer and signs of a slowing U.S. economy may be causing some prospective buyers to take a wait-and-see approach," commented NAR's Chief Economist, Lawrence Yun.
According to U.S. News, evidence of the fading momentum of the housing market has been evident in the past few months. Affordability pressures for would-be buyers are created by the unstable financial market and rise of home prices that resulted to falling of newly-built home sales to 11.5 percent.
A report from Realty Today has previously stated that the sales of newly-built homes in September has dropped 11.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 468,000 units. August's sales pace have been revised from the previously reported 552,000 units down to 529,000 units.
Realtors said that the sales of existing homes have risen 8.8 percent over the past 12 months, but the inventory on the market has dropped 3.1 percent.
The report from Realty Today also stated that the present inventory of unsold homes was down to a 4.8-month supply at the current sales pace, down from 5.1 months in August and 5.4 months a year ago.
The tight inventory of the housing market resulted to a 6.1 percent annual increase of median home sales price.
