the number of houses going under contract in the us rose slightly in june for the first time in four months as demand increased here are the main takeaways from the national association of realtors report released thursday the pending home sales index a leading indicator of home sales based on contract signings rose 03 to 768 in june turning positive after successive months of decreases an index of 100 is equal to the level of contract activity in 2001 economists polled by the wall street journal expected the index to decline by 05 the rise shows that the housing recession is now over according to lawrence yun nars chief economist the presence of multiple offers implies that housing demand is not being satisfied due to lack of supply he said homebuilders are ramping up production and hiring workers pending home sales increased in two of the four major us regions in june from may namely in the northeast and midwest in the other two the south and west regions pending sales declined nar said