Aug. 3, 2010 (United Press International) -- Pending U.S. home sales fell in June, due to the the cessation of a federal homebuyer tax credit, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday.
A 2.6 percent drop in the Pending Home Sales Index was anticipated by the trade group, but the census prediction among economists was for 1.2 percent growth.
The $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit required an application by the end of April and a home closing by the end of June.
At 75.7, the PHSI, which predicts home purchasing contracts a month or two in the future, is 18.6 percent below June 2009, NAR said.
"There could be a couple of additional months of slow home-sales activity before picking up later in the year, provided the job market continues to improve," NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said.
The trade group said the pending home sales index declined 12.2 percent to 58.8 in June in the Northeast and 9.5 percent to 64.1 in the Midwest. In the South, the index rose 3.7 percent to 85.8. In the West, the index fell 0.2 percent to 85.1.
