India, Oct. 22 -- Reflecting record-low interest rates and an abundance of buyers, the National Association of Realtors released a report on Thursday showing a much bigger than expected spike in U.S. existing home sales in the month of September.

NAR said existing home sales soared by 9.4 percent to an annual rate of 6.54 million in September after jumping by 2 percent to a revised rate of 5.98 million in August.

Economists had expected existing home sales to surge up by 5.0 percent to a rate of 6.30 million from the 6.00 million originally reported for the previous month.

"Home sales traditionally taper off toward the end of the year, but in September they surged beyond what we normally see during this season," said Lawrence Yun, NAR'...