The National Association of Realtors (NAR) announced on Thursday its seasonally adjusted pending home sales index (PHSI) fell 1.5 percent m-o-m to 104.3 in April, down from 105.9 in March.

Economists had expected pending home sales to rise 0.9 percent m-o-m in April.

On y-o-y basis, the index dropped 2.0 percent. That was the 16th consecutive month of annual declines.

According to the report, the pending home sales declined in three of the four regions in m-o-m terms but fell in all regions compared to April 2018. Pending home sales in the South dropped 2.5 percent m-o-m to an index of 124.0 in April, which is 1.8 percent lower than last April. The PHSI in the Northeast went down 1.8 percent m-o-m to 88.9 in April and is now 2.1 percent below a year ago. The index in the West decreased 1.8 percent m-o-m in April to 93.5 and fell only 1.5 percent below a year ago. Meanwhile, the index in the West dropped 1.8 percent m-o-m in April to 93.5 and fell only 1.5 percent below a year ago.