October Pending Home Sales Slip 1%

Despite a meltdown in financial markets, a credit freeze and soaring unemployment, housing markets fared better than expected in October.

The number of homes under contract to be sold fell by just 1% year over year according to a report released recently by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), and were down 0.7% from September. Analysts surveyed by Briefing.com had expected pending sales to slip by 3.6% year over year, and by 3% from September.

NAR found that sales in the West climbed 17.4% in October, compared with a year ago. Northeast sales plunged 14.1% year-over-year; Midwest sales dropped 6.8%; and sales in the South inched down 2.9%.