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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