WASHINGTON—Contracts to buy U.S. previously owned homes dropped to the lowest level in nearly two years in March as soaring house prices and mortgage rates reduced the pool of buyers.
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) said on Wednesday its Pending Home Sales Index, based on signed contracts, fell 1.2 percent last month to 103.7. That was the a fifth straight monthly decline and pushed contracts to the lowest level since May 2020.
Pending home sales rose in the Northeast, but fell in the South, Midwest and West.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast contracts, which become sales after a month or two, declining 1.6 percent. Pending home sales dropped 8.2 percent in March on a year-on-year basis.
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