Signed sales contracts were at its highest in August for this year, the seventh straight month-over-month as first time homebuyers rushed to take advantage of the homebuyers' tax credit which is about to expire by the end of November, according to an industry report released Thursday.

The National Association of Realtors said that the August Pending Home Sales Index surged 6.4 percent from July to 103.8. It was the highest since March 2007 and 12 percent above August last year’s reading.

Pending home sales jumped 3.2 percent in July.

Pending home sales are considered as an indicator of future sales with a one- to two-month lag between contract signing and actual closing.

Though there was a steady increase in the number of contracts signed this summer, sales in August fell 2.7 percent.

"Perhaps the real question is how many transactions are being delayed in the pipeline, and how many are being canceled," Lawrence Yun, the Realtors' chief economist, said in a statement. "Without historic precedents, it's challenging to assess."

"The rise in pending home sales shows buyers are returning to the market and signing contracts, but deals are not necessarily closing because of long delays related to short sales, and issues regarding complex new appraisal rules," he added.

Pending sales in the West were up 16 percent and in the Northeast by 8 percent. They were up 3 percent in the Midwest and almost 1 percent in the South.