Pending real estate sales dip in January

Image courtesy of LuMaxArt.

Pending sales of existing homes dipped for the second straight month in January, according to a National Association of Realtors index.

The Pending Home Sales Index, based on purchase contracts signed but not yet closed, is considered to be a leading indicator for future sales. An index score of 100 is the average level of contract activity in 2001, the first year that index data was collected.

The index fell 2.8 percent month-to-month and 1.5 percent year-over-year in January, to 88.9.

Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist, said in a statement, "We should not expect the recovery to be in a straight upward path -- it will zig-zag at times."