IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
Pending home sales in California were down in July, the result of declining affordability and not enough houses being built.
Statewide, pending sales were down 2.6 percent last month compared with July 2016, according to a report released Wednesday by the California Association of Realtors.
Compared with June, pending sale were down 0.9 percent, the first month-over-month decline since March, the Los Angeles-based association reported.
All data in the report is based on signed contracts and is seasonally adjusted. Economists and housing industry officials watch pending home sales closely because they’re considered an indication of the housing market’s immediate future.
California’s pending home sales index has now declined year-over-year for six of the last seven months, although the pace of that declined has slowed somewhat recently.
With inventory staying low and prices remaining high, the state housing market may have reached a “tipping point” that could indicate a slowdown in the fall, the report stated.
In the Inland Empire, year-over-year pending sales were down 4.2 percent in Riverside County and up six percent in San Bernardino County. Month-over-month figures were not broken down by county.
