The National Association of Realtors (NAR) announced on Wednesday its seasonally adjusted pending home sales index (PHSI) dropped 4.9 percent m-o-m to 103.2 in December, after an unrevised 1.2 percent m-o-m advance in November.

Economists had expected pending home sales to increase 0.4 percent m-o-m in December.

On y-o-y basis, the index climbed 4.6 percent after a 7.4 percent surge in November.

According to the report, all regional indices recorded declines m-o-m in December. The Northeast PHSI fell 4.0 percent m-o-m to 92.4 in December, 0.1 percent lower than a year ago. In the Midwest, the index decreased 3.6 percent m-o-m to 98.8 last month, 1.3 percent higher than in December 2018. Pending home sales in the South dropped 5.5 percent m-o-m to an index of 118.1 in December, a 7.4 percent advance from December 2018. The index in the West tumbled 5.4 percent m-o-m in December 2019 to 93.1, a gain of 7.0 percent from a year ago.