Pending U.S. Home Sales Post Biggest Annual Increase Since 2015

Contract signings to purchase previously owned U.S. homes posted the largest annual increase in four years, signaling lower mortgage rates are reviving interest from buyers.

The National Association of Realtors’ Index of pending home sales increased 6.3% in September from a year earlier on an unadjusted basis, the biggest gain since August 2015, according to data released Tuesday. On a monthly adjusted basis, contracts rose 1.5%, exceeding the median forecast in Bloomberg‘s survey for a gain of 0.9%.