A National Association of Realtors gauge of pending-home sales dropped 1.7 percent in October compared to September and fell 13.2 percent compared to October 2005, the association announced today.

The Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed in October, had a reading of 107.2. An index of 100 is equal to the average level of contract activity during 2001, the first year to be examined and the first of five consecutive record years for existing-home sales.

Broker members of Northwest MLS, a regional broker-owned MLS operating in western and central Washington, will soon be on their own in submitting property information for display on popular home-search site Realtor.com.

The MLS board has voted to discontinue the practice of sending a compilation of member-provided property information for display on that site, which consistently ranks among the most-visited real estate Web sites.

“We’ve always had as our focus the distribution of data to our members, and not to third parties,” said Jack Johnson, Northwest MLS president and CEO. “This is just a matter that has come up with our board of directors on several occasions over the years … and this time it passed.”