Existing-home sales, including single-family homes, townhomes and for-sale apartments, rose 4.2% in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.26 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. Industry analysts had expected a monthly decline of 3%, CNBC reported.
Year-over-year, sales slid 1.2%, NAR reported. The year-over-year decline was sharper for condominium and co-op sales, which fell by 9.8%–the same percentage as the monthly drop. Conversely, single-family homes were up 5.7% from January.
“Home buyers are slowly entering the market,” said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun. “Mortgage rates have not changed much, but more inventory and choices are releasing pent-up housing demand.”
Simultaneously, Redfin reported that pending-home sales are currently down 5.2%, due in part to affordability concerns. The typical U.S. homebuyer’s monthly housing payment is $2,793, just a few dollars shy of the all-time high, Redfin said Thursday.
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