Ahead of the Bell: Pending Home Sales

The National Association of Realtors' report on pending home sales is scheduled to be released Tuesday at 10 a.m. EDT.

Analysts predict the index will come in at 87, down from April's reading of 88.2, according to the consensus forecast of Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR.

Home sales are considered pending when the seller has accepted an offer, but the deal has not yet closed. Typically there is a one- to two-month lag before a sale is completed.

An index reading of 100 is equal to the average level of sales activity in 2001, when the index started. The index, which sunk to a record low of 83 in March, stood at 98.5 in May 2007.

Sales of existing homes edged up slightly in May, indicating that buyers were taking advantage of deeply discounted prices. But many economists believe prices must drop further before the housing industry can mount a sustained recovery.