Suggesting a possible spark from rising mortgage rates, the National Association of Realtors released a report on Thursday showing that pending home sales surged up to their highest level in over six years in the month of May.
NAR said its pending home sales index jumped 6.7 percent to 112.3 in May from a downwardly revised 105.2 in April. Economists had been expecting the index to rise by about 1.0 percent.
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 bigger than expected increase, the pending home sales index reached its highest level since hitting 112.8 in December of 2006.
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May 22, 2026 14:46 ET Minutes of the latest Fed policy session was the highlight of the week along with survey data on the U.S. housing market. In Europe, survey data signaled the trends in the euro area private sector. Further, consumer price inflation data from the U.K. was in focus. In Asia, various economic indicators from China drew attention to the health of the economy.