U.S. Pending Home Sales Surge Much More Than Expected In November

(RTTNews) - A report released by the National Association of Realtors on Monday showed pending home sales in the U.S. shot up by much more than expected in the month of November.

NAR said its pending home sales index spiked by 3.3 percent to 79.2 in November after surging by 2.4 percent to an upwardly revised 76.7 in October.

Economists had expected pending home sales to climb by 0.8 percent compared to the 1.9 percent jump originally reported for the previous month.

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.

"Homebuyer momentum is building," said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. "The data shows the strongest performance of the year after accounting for seasonal factors, and the best performance in nearly three years, dating back to February 2023."

"Improving housing affordability-driven by lower mortgage rates and wage growth rising faster than home prices-is helping buyers test the market," he added. "More inventory choices compared to last year are also attracting more buyers to the market."

The bigger than expected increase by pending home sales partly reflected strength in the West, where pending home sales soared by 9.2 percent.

Pending home sales in the South also shot up by 2.4 percent, while pending home sales in the Northeast and Midwest jumped by 1.8 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.

NAR also said November's REALTORS Confidence Index survey showed 22 percent of NAR members expect an increase in buyer traffic over the next three months, up from 17 percent in October but down from 24 percent a year ago.

Meanwhile, 18 percent expect an increase in seller traffic, up from 16 percent last month but down from 22 percent in November 2024, NAR added.