Pending Home Sales at Highest Level in Almost 2 Years

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) releases monthly reports on both existing and pending home sales. The latter tracks signed purchase contracts that have not yet closed. As such, it's seen as a good early indicator of existing home sales in the following month.  The housing market would take any help it can get at the moment and November's pending sales numbers are actually legitimately encouraging, even if the overall level of activity remains historically low. This is the 4th consecutive month of improvement for the index and it brings it to the highest level since February 2023.  Contract signings were up 2.2% versus last month and 6.9% versus last year, even as mortgage rates remain elevated. That makes the past few months significant because this the first meani