August US pending home sales -2.6% vs -0.5% expected

Pending home sales data from the National Association of Realtors

• Lowest level in almost 2.5 years
• Pending home sales down in 5 of 6 months
• Prior was -0.8%
• Sales -3.1% y/y versus -0.5% expected
• Prior was -0.5% y/y

That's two months in a row with a big miss. Part of the story is Hurricane Harvey with the index for the South down to 118.8 compared to 123.1 in Aug.

In the release, NAR continues to blame tight inventories. That might be true but you can't trust the housing cheerleaders at NAR.