Pending home sales dipped in April

An index measuring pending home sales fell 5.5 percent from March to April but was still up 14.4 percent from the same time a year ago, according to an index maintained by the National Association of Realtors.The dip in NAR's Pending Home Sales Index broke a three-month string of month-over-month gains, but pending sales have posted annual gains for 12 months in a row, said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun."Housing market activity has clearly broken out at notably higher levels and is on track to see the best performance since 2007," Yun said in a statement.  "All of the major housing market indicators are expected to trend gradually up, but a new federal budget must be passed before the end of the year for the economy to continue to move forward."NAR's Pending Home Sales Index, a gauge of homes that are under contract but have not closed, fell from 101.1 in March to 95.5 in April. An index of 100 is equal to the average level of contract activity during 2001, whic...