Tune in to see Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), discuss the NAR Pending Home Sales Index report today. The index declined 2.6 percent to 75.7 based on contracts signed in June from May’s level of 77.7 and is 18.6 percent below June 2009 when it was 93.0.

Dr. Yun states the nation has entered a pausing activity in terms of home sale activity which could remain for another two to three months or potentially up to five months or longer. He does not see a lot of momentum building at the moment and the economy needs to see continued job creation in order to boost home sales activity. Job growth is the key to sustained growth in the housing market.

“Since home prices have gone down to fundamentally justifiable levels, there isn’t likely to be any meaningful change to national home values,” Yun said. The Midwest index fell 9.5 percent to 64.1 and is 27.8 percent lower than a year ago. The Pending Home Sales Index is a leading indicator for the housing sector, based on pending sales of existing homes.