US pending home sales drop to record low in October

US pending home sales dropped to a record low in October as mortgage rates rose sharply.

According to the National Association of Realtors, pending home sales dropped 1.5% month-on-month and 8.5% year-on-year, following an upwardly revised 11.2% drop in September.

Pending home sales hit their lowest level since the NAR started monitoring the metric in 2001 - worse than readings during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and the global financial crisis of more than a decade ago.

"Recent weeks' successive declines in mortgage rates will help qualify more home buyers, but limited housing inventory is significantly preventing housing demand from fully being satisfied," said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun.

"Multiple offers, of course, yield only one winner, with the rest left to continue their search."

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com