Wednesday, July 29, 2015 -- Part VII -- Pending Home Sales "Tumble"

Link here. Home sales tumble but not because the economy is bad or because there aren't buyers. There aren't enough houses.

Signed contracts to buy US homes tumbled 1.8 pct. in June, as limited supplies weigh on market.

The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that its seasonally adjusted pending home sales index declined 1.8 percent to 110.3 last month. Still, strong demand from would-be buyers has pushed the index up 8.2 percent during the past 12 months.

"We could see a bit of a slowing in the recent upward trend in existing home sales in the coming months," said Derek Lindsey, an analyst at the bank BNP Paribas.

Solid hiring and relatively low mortgage rates have fueled the previous five months of gains in the pending sales index. But buying options are increasingly limited because the market contains just five months' supply of homes, compared to the historical average of six months in a healthier market.

The regional home sales number are probably much more interesting.

Based on local reporting in Grapevine, TX, houses going on the market are snapped up in days or weeks. In some areas, it's difficult to move quickly enough to put in a bid before the "sold" sign is up.  It appears they are building as fast as they can in this area.