Pending home sales plunge to record low

WASHINGTON (AP) - The National Association of Realtors said pending home sales fell to the lowest level on record in November, as the plummeting stock market and faltering economy caused buyers to put their purchases on hold.

The trade group said Tuesday its seasonally adjusted index of pending sales for existing homes fell 4 percent to 82.3 from a downwardly revised October reading of 85.7 in October.

That is worse than the reading of 88 that economists expected, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters.

The reading, which was down 5.3 percent from November 2007, was the lowest since in the eight-year history of the index, beating the previous record low of 83 set in March 2008.