the number of houses going under contract in the us declined again in october as rapidly rising mortgage rates and low affordability hurt demand data from the national association of realtors showed wednesday the pending home sales index a leading indicator of home sales based on contract signings fell 46 on month to 771 in october this is close to the level seen in april 2020 when the index fell to 700 amid covid19 pandemic trough economists polled by the wall street journal expected the index to decline 55 on month pending home sales were 37 below the same month a year earlier october was a difficult month for home buyers as they faced 20yearhigh mortgage rates said lawrence yun nars chief economist the upcoming months should see a return of buyers as mortgage rates appear to have already peaked and have been coming down since midnovember he said pending home sales dropped in three of the four major us regions transactions fell the most in the west by 113 on month followed by a 64 decline in the south and a 43 drop in the northeast pending home sales increased 33 in the midwest