The number of Americans buying homes just reached its highest level in nine years.
Contract signings rose 0.9 percent in May, to elevate the index of pending home sales to 112.6, the National Association of Realtors reported on Monday.
That is the highest the index has been since it hit 113.7 in April 2006, a year before the Great Recession hit, the NAR said.
The uptick in May was the fifth straight monthly gain for the index, increasing the chance that home sales are about to have their best year since the recession, NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said.
“This housing recovery market is very broad based, with all four major regions showing a solid gain from one year ago,” Yun told The Post.
“We’ve seen more signed contracts in New York this spring despite the challenge of low inventory,” Dottie Herman, CEO of the real estate agency Douglas Elliman, told The Post.