The National Association of Realtors (NAR) announced on Thursday its seasonally adjusted pending home sales index (PHSI) fell 2.5 percent m-o-m to 105.6 in July, down from 108.3 in June.

Economists had expected pending home sales to be flat m-o-m in July.

On y-o-y basis, the index decreased 0.3 percent.

According to the report, the pending home sales declined in all four regions in m-o-m terms. Pending home sales in the South decreased 2.4 percent m-o-m to an index of 122.7 in July, but that number is 0.1 percent higher than last July. The PHSI in the Northeast dropped 1.6 percent m-o-m to 93.0 in July and is now 0.9 percent lower than a year ago. The index in the West fell 3.4 percent m-o-m in July to 93.5 but still rose 0.3 percent above a year ago. The indicator in the Midwest went down 2.5 percent m-o-m to 101.0 in July, 1.2 percent less than July 2018.