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Pending home sales rose in June as an increase in for-sale listings prompted some home buyers to act. Pending home sales rose 4.8% in June from the previous month, according to the monthly index released Wednesday by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR). Pending home sales reflect transactions where the contract has been signed for an existing-home sale, but the sale has not yet closed. Economists view it as an indicator for the direction of existing-home sales in subsequent months. The sales pace exceeded expectations on Wall Street. Economists were expecting pending home sales to rise 1% in June. Transactions were still down 2.6% from a year ago. All figures are seasonally adjusted. “The rise in housing inventory is beginning to lead to more contract signings,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the NAR, said in a statement. “Multiple offers are less intense, and buyers are in a more favorable position.” Looking ahead, “even more inventory is expected to come onto the housing market in the upcoming months ahead of the normal, seasonal declines in the winter,” he added.