US home sales rise in February by most in a year
existing homes made the biggest jump in a year last month on improved housing supply, according to industry data released Thursday, as mortgage rates held at a slightly lower level.
Existing home sales advanced 9.5 percent in February from January to an annual rate of 4.38 million, seasonally adjusted, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) said.
«Additional housing supply is helping to satisfy market demand,» said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun in a statement.
This was the highest rate since February 2023, with sales of previously owned homes generally bogged down by elevated mortgage rates in recent times.
Speaking to reporters on a call, Yun added that a gain was «inevitable» given population growth and job creation.
Mortgage rates have climbed rapidly in the past two years as the Federal Reserve hiked the benchmark lending rate to ease demand and tamp down surging inflation — but levels have cooled somewhat from November 2023.
According to home loan finance company Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.7 percent as of March 14, down from the prior week.
Compared with February last year, however, home sales were still 3.3 percent down, latest NAR data showed.
The association noted that total housing inventory has risen as of end-February, from January.
The median price of existing homes was $384,500, which was 5.7 percent up from the previous year.
Despite the latest surge, analysts at Pantheon Macroeconomics recently
