Pending home sales dropped far more than expected in February as the supply of homes on the market fell swiftly and home prices soared, data from the National Association of Realtors showed Wednesday.
Pending home sales, which count signed contracts to purchase existing homes, fell 10.6 percent in February compared with the month prior. Economists had forecast a milder decline of just 3.1 percent. In January, pending home sales fell 2.8 percent.
Sales are down 0.5 percent compared with January 2020.
Realtors blame low supply for the drop in contract signings. There were just 1.03 million homes for sale at the end of February, a 29.5 percent decline compared with the prior February. That is the largest annual drop ever recorded.
