It is getting really tough, folks, to try and find new and different synonyms for "down a lot" every month. This month I have to go with "plunge":
The National Association of Realtors has released their Pending Home Sales report this morning, and it’s not pretty. It’s also a great example of why we don’t get excited about month-to-month differences, after June’s "improvement.":
Pending sales of existing homes in the U.S. fell in July to the lowest level in nearly six years as the mortgage market’s troubles made it tough for many borrowers to finalize home purchases.
The National Association of Realtors said its index of pending home sales for July fell 16.1 percent from a year ago and 12.2 percent from the prior month.
July’s reading of 89.9 was the second lowest ever for the index and its lowest since September 2001, when the economy was jolted by the terrorist attacks. A reading of 100 is equal to the average level of pending sales activity in 2001, when the index began.
