An industry group says pending U.S. home sales unexpectedly increased in April to the highest reading since October, but are still off more than 13 percent from a year ago.
The National Association of Realtors said Monday its seasonally adjusted index of pending sales for existing homes rose to 88.2 from a March reading of 83.0, the index's low. The index stood at 101.5 in April 2007.
Wall Street economists polled by Thomson/IFR had predicted the index would remain steady at 83.
A reading of 100 is equal to the average level of sales activity in 2001, when the index started.
