Pending Home Sales Fall

Mortgage rates may have started to come down in December but the move didn't trigger a rush into the resale market. Pending home sales fell a steep 2.2 percent in the month which points to unwelcome weakness for final sales of existing homes in January and also February. Final sales in December, reported last week, dropped a very sharp 6.4 percent to a 4.990 million annualized rate that was the lowest in more than three years. The pending sales index can be volatile but the direction of today's indication is unmistakable.