National Association of Realtors index declines - Washington Business Journal:

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NAR's Pending Home Sales Index fellto 84.7 in May, down 4.7 percen t from an upwardly revised readingy of 88.9 in April. The index is 14 perceng below its level inMay 2007. The recent decline is steeper thanthe 2.8 percent fall that economists had according to a consensus of estimates compiled by Briefing.com. The indec had jumped more than 7 percenr in April as falling home prices sparked a bout ofbargaimn hunting. But May's readintg proved the housing slump is farfrom over. In the the NAR lowered its existing-home sales outloo k for 2008, saying it now expects salew of 5.31 million, down from the 5.39 million forecasyt in April.
NAR said existing home prices also are expectecdto fall. The aggregate median existing-homse price is projected to fall 6.2 percent this year to $205,300, and then rise by 4.3 percenty in 2009 to $214,100, the report indicated. Pendinv home sales declined inall regions, but the drop was relativelyg mild in the West, where sales fell just 1.3 Pending home sales were down 2.9 percenr in the Northeast, 6 percent in the Midwest and 7.1 percenft in the South.
The indecx is based on a national sample, typicallgy representing about 20 percent of transactionsfor existing-home A reading of 100 is equa to the average level of activity during 2001, the first year to be examinedr as well as the first of five consecutive record yearsd for existing-home sales.