Pending Home Sales Up Nationally, Reports National Assn. of Realtors

The number of contracts to buy previously owned homes in the U.S. increased more than forecast in August, reinforcing signs of a rebound in housing, industry figures showed today.

The index of signed purchase agreements, or pending home sales, rose 6.4 percent after a 3.2 percent gain in July, the National Association of Realtors announced in Washington. The gain was the seventh in a row. Compared with a year earlier, pending sales rose 12.4 percent.

Near record low interest rates and government, declining prices and government incentives to purchase all contributed to the increase in sales.

“We are in a recovery,” said Gary Thayer, macro strategist at Wells Fargo Advisors LLC in St. Louis, before today’s report. “There were a lot of people who were on the fence. Prices are firming up and people are getting back into the market.”

Pending home sales were projected to increase 1 percent in August, according to the median forecast of 36 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. By region, pending sales rose 16 percent in the West, 8 percent in the Northeast and 3 percent in the Midwest. They gained 0.8 percent in the South from the prior month.

Home values in 20 metropolitan areas climbed in July by the most in almost four years, a private report showed this month. The S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index increased 1.2 percent in July from the prior month, the biggest gain since October 2005. From a year earlier, values were down 13.3 percent, the smallest decline in 17 months.