The numbers: The number of home buyers who signed a contract to purchase a home in August jumped, far exceeding economists’ expectations.
Pending home sales rose 8.1% in August compared with July, the National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday. Economists polled by MarketWatch had projected a 0.4% increase for pending home sales in August.
Still, compared with a year ago, pending sales were down 8.3%, reflecting how much home-buying activity has fallen from the boom last summer and fall.
The pending home sales index measures real-estate transactions where a contract was signed for a previously-owned home, but the sale had yet to close, and it is benchmarked to contract-signing activity in 2001. The index provides insight as to the direction existing-home sales figures will take in the months to come, which is based on closed transactions.
“Rising inventory and moderating price conditions are bringing buyers back to the market,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, said in the report. “Affordability, however, remains challenging as home-price gains are roughly three times wage growth.”
