Sales of existing homes hit their highest annual pace for six months in January, according to the National Association of Realtors. Sales were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.47 million, up 0.4 percent from a downwardly revised 5.45 million in December.
That rate is 11.0 percent higher than the rate in January 2014.
"The housing market has shown promising resilience in recent months, but home prices are still rising too fast because of ongoing supply constraints. Despite the global economic slowdown, the housing sector continues to recover and will likely help the U.S. economy avoid a recession,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, in a statement.
The median existing-home price for all housing types in January went up 8.2 percent to $213,800. The increase was the largest since April 2015 and is the 47th consecutive month of year-over-year gains.
January existing-home sales increased 2.7 percent in the Northeast and 4.0 percent in the Midwest. Sales were unchanged in the South and decreased 4.1 percent in the West.
The full release is available online.
