Home buyers stepped up their game in March, with pending home sales rising 3.8% over February, according to the National Association of Realtors, blowing past analyst expectations. Signed sales contracts were still down 1.2% compared with a year earlier, however, marking 15 consecutive months of year-over-year decreases. The jump in pending home sales in March was aided by a dip in mortgage rates to their lowest levels in roughly a year.