WASHINGTON — Americans signed more contracts to purchase homes in November, a rebound from the previous month, indicating that the housing market is still strong.

The National Association of Realtors said Monday that its pending home sales index, which measures the numbers of purchase contracts signed, rose 1.2 percent last month, to 108.5. The trade association said that contract signings measured year over year are up a robust 7.4 percent.

Mortgage rates have fallen sharply in the past year in large part due to the Federal Reserve lowering its benchmark short-term interest rate. Lower rates have somewhat helped to offset rising home prices across the U.S., but affordability remains a persistent challenge for would-be buyers. The median sales price has climbed 5.4 percent from a year ago to $257,400, outpacing wage growth.

JUNCTION CITY, Kan. — McDonald’s is disputing allegations that one of the restaurant’s workers wrote an expletive and the word “pig” on a coffee cup that was given to a Kansas police officer who stopped there on his way to work.Dana Cook, the owner of a McDonald’s in Junction City, said in a written statement that the restaurant has security video that proves none of its employees wrote the words. Cook did not speculate about who may have written them before Herrington’s police chief posted a picture of the cup on Facebook.Chief Brian Hornaday’s Facebook post about the cup has since been removed and he now says he’s “looking further into this matter” with McDonald’s.In the Facebook post, he said one of his officers was handed the cup Saturday when he went through the McDonald’s drive-through in Junction City, which is near Fort Riley.“This behavior has been, is and always will be wrong,” Hornaday said in his initial post.