Pending home sales slip 1% in July, but Realtors say market may be ‘at or close to the bottom’

Pending home sales, a measure of signed contracts on existing homes, slipped 1% from June to July, according to the National Association of Realtors. Compared with a year ago, sales were down 19.9%.

The figure, a future indicator of closed sales, has fallen for eight of the past nine months as rising mortgage rates made housing less affordable. Higher rates pushed the typical mortgage payment up by 54% from a year ago, according to the NAR.

The drop in sales was smaller than previous months and could be a sign...