Last month saw a landslide of home contract signings, burgeoning hope that a housing market recovery may be underway. August saw a 47 percent increase in the number of residential contract signings penned for homes under $500,000, compared to the dismal figures from the same time period a year ago, according to data from Streeteasy.com. While this is a significant increase, Sofia Kim, Streeteasy’s vice president of research, cautioned against irrational optimism. “This season has seen a dramatic increase in contract activity since a year ago,” Kim said. “While this seems like very good news for the industry, one has to keep in mind that average prices of these contracts are down 20 percent from a year ago.”