With severe winter weather inhibiting home shopping across much of the U.S., the National Association of Realtors released a report on Thursday showing a sharp drop in pending home sales in the month of December.
NAR said its pending home sales index tumbled 8.7 percent to 92.4 in December from a downwardly revised 101.2 in November. Economists had been expecting the index to edge down by 0.5 percent.
A pending home sale is one in which a contract was signed but not yet closed. Normally, it takes four to six weeks to close a contracted sale.
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April 24, 2026 15:15 ET Economics news flow was relatively light this week even as the conflict in the Middle East continued, raising concerns for policymakers. In the U.S., spending data, initial jobless claims and pending home sales were the highlights. Business confidence in the biggest euro area economy was in focus in Europe. Inflation data from Japan gained attention in Asia.