According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), pending home sales increased in December for the first time since May 2022.  The Pending Home Sales Index increased by 2.5% to 75.9 last month.    NAR's Chief Economist, Lawrence Yun, said the recent decline in mortgage rates is helping to stabilize the market. The Northeast and Midwest regions recorded MoM reductions of 6.5% and 0.3%, and the South and West regions recorded monthly gains of 6.1% and 6.4%, respectively.  Yun added that the South is set to outperform the rest of the country because of a better job market than other regions.  Compared to December 2021, all the regions saw a significant decline in the index, ranging from 30% to 38%.