Existing home sales in the United States jumped by 3.1% month on month in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.0 million, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) said in a report released on Thursday. On a yearly basis, the sales fell by 1.7%.
The median existing-home sales price for all housing types grew by 5.1% annually to $379,100 in the reported month. Total housing inventory at the end of January stood at 1.01 million units, rising by 2.0% from December and surging by 3.1% year-on-year.
"While home sales remain sizably lower than a couple of years ago, January's monthly gain is the start of more supply and demand," NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said, stressing that the price of medium homes reached "an all-time high" in January.
