By Rex Nutting
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Enticed by an expanded tax credit, home buyers came back into the market in February, the National Association of Realtors said Monday, reporting an 8.2% increase in its pending home sales index. The index had fallen 7.8% in January and was down 20% from the peak in October. Following February's surprise increase, the pending home sales index is up 17.3% compared with a year earlier. Economists were looking for a decline or a smaller increase in the index in February, in part because of extreme weather in the eastern half of the nation. However, the index showed sales contracts increased about 9% in the Northeast and South, and about 22% in the Midwest. Sales contracts declined about 5% in the West.
