According to Jinshi, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) existing home contracted sales index unexpectedly fell 4.9% to 74.3 in January, the largest drop in five months, as rising mortgage rates suppressed housing demand. The indicator surged to an eight-month high in December. Lawrence Yun, chief economist at NAR, said consumers are showing additional sensitivity to changes in mortgage rates during the current cycle, which is having an impact on home sales. Expectations that interest rates will remain high have pushed up the cost of housing finance in recent weeks. Earlier this week, a measure of U.S. home mortgage applications fell for a fifth straight week to near its lowest level since 1995.