Bill Daniels

The National Association of Realtors’ Pending Home Sales Index dipped 1.8 percent based on signed contracts in September. The drop follows two month of gains and puts the index 24.9 percent below last year’s levels, when first-time buyers were rushing to take advantage of the tax credit before its initial deadline last November. Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said the foreclosure moratorium is likely to cause some disruption in sales numbers but he believes there will be a surge of pent-up demand once the banks resolve their issues. More here and here.