WASHINGTON — Contracts to purchase previously owned U.S. homes were unexpectedly unchanged in September, likely as worries about the labor market kept prospective buyers on the sidelines despite declining mortgage rates.

The flat reading in pending home sales last month, which was reported by the  on Wednesday, followed an upwardly revised 4.2% increase in August.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast contracts, which become sales after a month or two, would rise 1.0% after a previously reported 4.0% advance in August. Pending home sales dropped 0.9% from a year earlier.

 

To continue reading the rest of the article, please click on the source link below;

Pending home sales come in flat in September even as mortgage rates ease