US: Pending home sales tumble in May for third straight month - National Association of Realtors

"The ongoing supply shortages that are propping up home prices in many metro areas caused pending home sales in May to slump for the third consecutive month," the National Association of Realtors announced on Monday.

Key highlights:

• The Pending Home Sales Index decreased 0.8 percent to 108.5 in May from a downwardly revised 109.4 in April.
• The index is now 1.7 percent below a year ago, which marks the second straight annual decline and the most recent since November and December of last year.
• Weaker financial and economic confidence could also be playing a role in the slowdown in contract activity
• Existing-home sales are forecast to be around 5.63 million this year, an increase of 3.2 percent from 2016 (5.45 million)