Mumbai, Sept. 30 -- Pending home sales in the U.S. soared by far more than expected in the month of August, the National Association of Realtors revealed in a report released on Monday.
NAR said its pending home sales index spiked by 4.0 percent to 74.7 in August after falling by 0.3 percent to a revised 71.8 in July.
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 much bigger than expected increase, the pending home sales index reached its highest level since hitting 76.1 in March.
The surge by pending home sales partly reflected strength in the Midwest, where pending home sales leapt by 8.7 percent.
Pending home sales in the West a...