Pending U.S. home sales slump

WASHINGTON — Fewer Americans signed contracts to buy homes in May, with the year-overyear pace of pending sales sliding for the first time in nearly two years.

The National Association of Realtors said last week that its seasonally adjusted pending home sales index fell 3.7 percent in May to 110.8, slightly below its May 2015 reading of 111.

Overall U.S. home sales have steadily improved over the past year. But buyers are facing a shortage of available homes that might have curtailed pending sales in May.

Pending sales contracts are a barometer of future purchases. A sale is typically completed a month or two after a contract is signed. May’s decline suggests that completed home sales could slow in July or August.

In May, completed sales of existing homes in the United States rose 1.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.53 million, the highest level since February 2007, the real estate group reported last week.

But the number of listings sank 5.7 percent from a year ago, meaning that homebuyers have limited choices.

The tight inventory has caused homes to sell after fewer days on the market and pushed up prices.

Homes sold in May after an average of just 32 days on the market, the fastest pace ever measured by the real estate agents’ group since they began tracking the figure in 2011. Homes stayed on the market on average for 40 days a year ago.

The median sales price in the United States was $239,700, a 4.7 percent increase over the past 12 months.