Pending Home Sales Hit a Record Low. Fixed Mortgages Did Not Reset.

The National Association of Realtors said on Tuesday, October 20, that its index of pending U.S. home sales fell 7.3% in September and 11.3% from a year earlier. The index hit the lowest reading in records back to 2001. Forecasters had expected a 0.4% monthly drop.

Chief economist Lawrence Yun said conditions weakened because mortgage rates were above 7% for most of September and near 7.6% at month-end, using Mortgage News Daily. That is a different series from the later weekly 7.41% average for new conforming loans. Pending sales count signed contracts, not closings and not the price of a home someone already owns.

A fixed-rate principal-and-interest payment does not change because fewer buyers signed. The Federal Reserve has not announced its October 28 decision, so any further change in new borrowing costs is still unknown.

Does this record low raise the payment on a fixed-rate mortgage you already have? No. Pending sales measure new contracts. An existing fixed payment stays at the rate in the loan contract.