The National Association of Realtors (NAR) announced on Thursday its seasonally adjusted pending home sales index (PHSI) rose 1.6 percent m-o-m to 107.3 in August, after a 2.5 percent m-o-m drop in July.

Economists had expected pending home sales to increase 0.9 percent m-o-m in August.

On y-o-y basis, the index increased 2.5 percent.

According to the report, the pending home sales grew in all four regions in m-o-m terms The PHSI in the Northeast jumped 1.4 percent m-o-m to 94.3 in August and is now 0.7 percent higher than a year ago. In the Midwest, the index went up 0.6 percent m-o-m to 101.7, 0.2 percent higher than August 2018. Pending home sales in the South climbed 1.4 percent m-o-m to an index of 124.4, a 1.8 percent advance from last August. The index in the West surged 3.1 percent m-o-m to 96.4, up 8.0 percent from a year ago.