Pending home sales rebounded sharply in October, despite rising mortgage rates

Buyers came roaring back to the housing market in October, even as mortgage rates rose.

Signed contracts on existing homes, so-called pending sales, jumped 7.5% from September, according to the National Association of Realtors. Sales were still 1.4% lower than October 2020, but last fall marked a cyclical high in the housing market.

Pending sales are a forward-looking indicator of sales that will close in one to two months. Wall Street analysts were expecting October pending sales to be flat compared with the month before.

Closed sales in October also rose unexpectedly.

“Motivated by…