Pending Home Sales Plunge to Record Low

By Alan Zibel

WASHINGTON -- The National Association of Realtors says pending home sales fell to the lowest level on record in November, as the plummeting stock market and faltering economy caused buyers to put their purchases on hold.

The trade group said Tuesday its seasonally adjusted index of pending sales for existing homes fell 4% to 82.3 from a downwardly revised October reading of 85.7 in October.

That's worse than the reading of 88 that economists expected, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters.

The reading, which was down 5.3% from November 2007, was the lowest since in the eight-year history of the index, beating the previous record low of 83 set in March 2008.