ShareBloomberg News
Pending sales of previously owned US homes rose in March by the most in more than a year as a brief dip in mortgage rates and a rising supply of houses brought out spring shoppers.
An index of contract signings climbed 6.1%, the most since December 2023, to 76.5, according to a monthly index from the National Association of REALTORS®. The median projection in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 1% gain.
The sales pickup last month coincided with a temporary drop in financing costs, with 30-year mortgage rates falling as low as 6.67% in early March, Mortgage Bankers Association data show. Rates have since rebounded to 6.89%, but “even minor fluctuations” can motivate buyers, NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a release.
"While contract signings are not a guarantee of eventual closings, the solid rise in pending home sales implies a sizable build-up of potential home buyers, fueled by ongoing job growth," Yun said.
Even with March's increase, the pending sales gauge remains well below its 2021 levels, when it generally hovered above 110.