Last month, contracts to buy previously owned homes unexpectedly dropped, the fourth drop in the last five months, as the housing market continues to struggle with a shortage of properties up for sale. The National Association of Realtors reported on Thursday its Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed last month, dropped 0.8 percent to a reading of 109.1. June was also revised downward to a reading of 110.0.

A poll from economists had predicted pending home sales increasing 0.5% in July. Nationwide contracts only increased in the West. Compared to one year ago, pending sales dropped 1.3 percent.

Pending home contracts become sales one or two months later, and last month’s decline is the latest in an uneven run of housing data. Housing demand has been buoyed by a strengthening economy and low unemployment, but a lack of inventory has pushed up prices.

“The pace of new listings is not catching up with what’s being sold at an astonishingly fast pace,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun stated.

Pending home sales in the West gained 0.6 percent in July. They dropped 0.3 percent in the Northeast, 0.7 percent in the Midwest and 1.7 percent in the South.

Yun added that the impact from Hurricane Harvey on the Houston region, with homeowners suffering extensive flooding, would likely weigh on sales over the future months. Houston in the nation’s fourth-biggest city.

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