A tighter supply of housing inventory is impacting U.S. pending home sales which were down 4.3 percent in December compared to a month before but remained 6.9 percent higher than a year ago, according to the latest Pending Home Sales Index released today by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR).

Despite the smaller inventory in some areas of the country, NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said pent-up demand from buyers and affordable market conditions are good signs and he expects home sales to increase by 9 percent this year.

“The supply limitation appears to be the main factor holding back contract signings in the past month. Still, contract activity has risen for 20 straight months on a year-over-year basis,” he said. “Buyer interest remains solid, as evidenced by a separate REALTOR® survey which shows that buyer foot traffic is easily outpacing seller traffic.”

Read today’s news release from NAR and watch a new video with Yun.