Pending sales pop

In the interest of "fair play," I should point out that we got a STRONGER than expected pending home sales report for August from the National Association of Realtors. The NAR's pending sales index was up 4.3% on the month.

Some thoughts: This strength comes on the heels of a dismal July (when pendings were down 7%). It doesn't seem to fit with the regional sales reports I've seen or the Mortgage Bankers Association's purchase mortgage application index (which has generally been deteriorating for the past two months). And pendings were still down more than 14% YOY in August. But it's definitely worth keeping an eye on.