Investing.com - Pending home sales in the U.S. rose significantly more than expected in May, easing concerns over the housing sector, industry data showed on Monday.
In a report, the National Association of Realtors said its pending home sales index rose by a seasonally adjusted 6.1% last month, easily surpassing expectations for a 1.5% gain. Pending home sales in April rose by 0.5%.
Year-on-year, pending home sales fell at annualized rate of 6.9% in May, better than expectations for a decline of 9%.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, expects improving home sales in the second half of the year.
“Sales should exceed an annual pace of five million homes in some of the upcoming months behind favorable mortgage rates, more inventory and improved job creation,” he said. “However, second-half sales growth won’t be enough to compensate for the sluggish first quarter and will likely fall below last year’s total.”
Following the release of the data, the U.S. dollar held on to losses against the euro, with EUR/USD rising 0.1% to trade at 1.3663.
Meanwhile, U.S. equity markets were mixed after the open. The Dow dipped 0.2%, the S&P 500 declined 0.1%, while the NASDAQ Composite added 0.1%.