Jan 31, 2019
The housing slump gets worse
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The housing market got more bad news on Wednesday. Pending home sales fell 2.2% in December, meaning almost 400,000 fewer contracts were signed to buy existing homes. It's part of an ongoing slump that's seen 12 straight months of year-over-year declines. It's also the lowest December sales reading since 2013.
By the numbers: Existing home sales had been trending higher but also reversed course last month, falling 6.4% from November to a seasonally adjusted 4.99 million sales in December. That's down 10.3% from December 2017's 5.56 million sales when the metric was moving in the opposite direction.
Go deeper: The mixed views on a housing market rebound
