by Calculated Risk on 9/02/2010 10:00:00 AM

From the NAR: Pending Home Sales Rise

The Pending Home Sales Index ... rose 5.2 percent to 79.4 based on contracts signed in July from a downwardly revised 75.5 in June, but remains 19.1 percent below July 2009 when it was 98.1. The data reflects contracts and not closings, which normally occur with a lag time of one or two months.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, cautioned that there would be a long recovery process. “Home sales will remain soft in the months ahead ..."

This suggests a small increase in existing home sales in September (reported when transactions close), but this also suggests double digit months of supply for some time.