U.S. Pending Home Sales Surge Much More Than Expected In August
(RTTNews) - Pending home sales in the U.S. soared by far more than expected in the month of August, the National Association of Realtors revealed in a report released on Monday.
NAR said its pending home sales index spiked by 4.0 percent to 74.7 in August after falling by 0.3 percent to a revised 71.8 in July.
Economists had expected pending home sales to rise by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.4 percent decrease originally reported for the previous month.
A pending home sale is one in which a contract was signed but not yet closed. Normally, it takes four to six weeks to close a contracted sale.
With the much bigger than expected increase, the pending home sales index reached its highest level since hitting 76.1 in March.
The surge by pending home sales partly reflected strength in the Midwest, where pending home sales leapt by 8.7 percent.
Pending home sales in the West and South also jumped by 5.0 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively, while pending home sales in the Northeast slid by 1.1 percent.
"Lower mortgage rates are enabling more homebuyers to go under contract," said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. "In the Midwest, low mortgage rates combined with high levels of affordability are attracting more buyers compared to other regions."
NAR also said August's REALTORS Confidence Index survey shows that 19 percent of NAR members expect an increase in buyer traffic over the next three months, up from 16 percent last month and unchanged from a year ago.
Meanwhile, 19 percent expect an increase in seller traffic, down from 21 percent last month but up from 18 percent in August 2024, NAR said.
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