Expectations for a stronger housing market in October fell short. Pending homes sales, a measure of signed contracts to buy existing homes, fell 2.6 percent compared with September, according to the National Association of Realtors. Sales were down a steeper 6.7 percent compared with October 2017. That makes the tenth straight month of annual declines. This follows another disappointing report on sales of newly built homes in October, which also measure signed contracts.