U.S. Existing Home Sales Unexpectedly Rebound In February

(RTTNews) - A report released by the National Association of Realtors on Tuesday unexpectedly showed a notable rebound by existing home sales in the U.S. in the month of February.

NAR said existing home sales jumped by 1.7 percent to an annual rate of 4.09 million in February after plunging by 5.9 percent to an upwardly revised rate of 4.02 million in January.

The increase came as a surprise to economists, who had expected existing home sales to fall by 0.8 percent to a rate of 3.88 million from the 3.91 million originally reported for the previous month.

"Housing affordability is improving, and consumers are responding," said NAR Chief Economist Dr. Lawrence Yun. "Still, there is a long way to go to return to pre-pandemic levels of transaction activity."

The unexpected rebound by existing home sales partly reflected strength in the West, where existing home sales spiked by 8.2 percent.

Existing home sales in the South and Midwest also shot up by 1.6 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively, while existing home sales in the Northeast plunged by 6.0 percent.

The report also said housing inventory at the end of February totaled 1.29 million units, up 2.4 percent from 1.26 million in January and up 4.9 percent from 1.23 million units a year ago.

The unsold inventory represents 3.8 months of supply at the current sales pace, unchanged from January but up from 3.6 months in the same month last year.

NAR also said the median existing home price was $398,000 in February, up 0.8 percent from $395,000 in January and up 0.3 percent from $396,800 a year ago.

"Inventory is growing, but sluggishly," Yun said. "If demand picks up notably in the coming months and outpaces supply growth, home prices will inevitably rise."

He added, "That is why increasing supply is so important to help limit home price growth, improve housing affordability, and boost transactions."