Warning Sign: Pending Home Sales Fell in October, 10th Month of Year-Over-Year Declines

The housing market was even weaker in October than expected.

Pending home sales, based on signed contracts to buy existing homes, fell 2.6 percent compared with September, for a year-over-year decline of 6.7 percent.

Last month, however, pending sales broke a long-streak of month-over-month declines. That flicker of hope for the housing market, which has been the weakest part of an otherwise very strong economy, was effectively extinguished by October’s data.

On a year-over-year basis, this gauge of the housing market has fallen for ten months in a row.

The disappointing data on Thursday follows close on the heels of lower-than-expected new home sales data on Wednesday. These fell 12 percent year-over-year, according to the U.S. Census.

The decline in sales is largely blamed on a decline in affordability. Home prices are up by more than incomes and mortgage rates have climbed as the Fed hiked rates this year.