Pending home sales in the US plummeted in April, a Thursday update showed.

Contract signings dropped 7.66% last month from March, according to the NAR. Economists — God bless ’em — collectively predicted a 1% decline.

The MoM slowdown was the most pronounced in a quite a while and bodes ill for existing home sales. Contract signings are (obviously) a leading indicator.

Do note: The actual index print — 72.3 — was the lowest since the plunge witnessed during the earliest months of the pandemic.

This is the furthest thing from surprising. Prices are perched at records and financing costs are the highest in decades, which is to say many younger Americans can’t remember the last time mortgage rates sported a seven-handle.

“The impact of escalating interest rates throughout April dampened home buying, even with more inventory in the market,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said.

The latest round of housing data out of the US, culminating in Thursday’s NAR release, was uniformly lackluster. Both new and existing home sales were lower in April, builder sentiment slipped back below the threshold separating net optimism from pessimism and housing starts underwhelmed.

A glass half-full take says the persistence of elevated rates is finally curbing demand which, in theory anyway, should bring the market into better balance, particularly if supply continues to increase at the margins. A more pessimistic assessment says the market’s pretty much frozen solid, notwithstanding the incrementally higher inventories cited by Yun.

Pray for rate cuts, I guess. Yun is. “The Fed’s anticipated rate cut later this year should lead to better conditions, with improved affordability and more supply,” he said.

As for prices, don’t hold your breath. “The prospect of measurable home price declines appears minimal,” Yun went on.