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US pending home sales ticked up in August from a record low, as falling mortgage rates encouraged some buyers to dip a toe into the market. A measure of contract signings for previously owned homes climbed 0.6% to 70.6 last month, according to data released by the National Association of REALTORS® Thursday. That came in below the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg, who had the index rising 1%. “A slight upward turn reflects a modest improvement in housing affordability, primarily because mortgage rates descended to 6.5% in August,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a prepared statement. “However, contract signings remain near cyclical lows even as home prices keep marching to new record highs.”