May 27 (Reuters) - Contracts to purchase previously owned U.S. homes declined in April following a record-low inventory of homes for sale in the first quarter of 2021. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) said on Thursday its Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed last month, fell 4.4% to 106.2. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast pending home sales rising 0.8% percent. “Contract signings are approaching pre-pandemic levels after the big surge due to the lack of sufficient supply of affordable homes,” Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said in a statement. “The upper-end market is still moving sharply as inventory is more plentiful there.” Pending home contracts are seen as a forward-looking indicator of the health of the housing market because they become sales one to two months later. Compared to one year ago, pending sales were up 51.7%. The Commerce Department on Tuesday reported that new home sales fell 5.9% in April as prices surged amid a tight supply of houses. “While there is still considerable demand, including from younger households, some buyers are likely getting priced out of the market with prices at these levels,” said Nancy Vanden Houten, Lead Economist at Oxford Economics. (Reporting by Evan Sully; Editing by Kirsten Donovan) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.