Pending home sales reached a milestone of sorts in September, but what does it mean for housing?

Pending Home Sales increased in September by both monthly and yearly measures, with the yearly increase being the first in nearly a year, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The Pending Home Sales Index, NAR’s measurement of contract signings, rose 0.3 percent from August to September and 1.0 percent from Sept. 2013; that’s the first time since Oct. 2013 that sales have risen year-over-year, and it brings the index to its second-highest level in the last year.

September’s progress, though, got us wondering – given how sensitive contract signings are to economic trends, how hopeful can we be for the future of pending sales? To find out, we compared the Pending Home Sales Index with both mortgages rates and housing affordability, and collected our results in the graph below: