US existing home sales soar 6.7% in January

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - US existing home sales soared 6.7% in January from the previous month, according to National Association of Realtors (NAR) data released Friday.

Existing home sales, which measure the change in the number of existing residential buildings sold, climbed to 6.5 million in January.

While the market estimate was a decline of 1% to 6.1 million, existing home sales fell 3.8% to at 6.09 million in December.

"The median existing-home sales price rose at a stronger pace of 15.4% on a year-on-year basis to $350,300," NAR said in a statement.

"At the end of December, the inventory of unsold existing homes fell to a new all-time low of 860,000, which is equivalent to 1.6 months of the monthly sales pace, also an all-time low," it added.

NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said housing prices continue to move solidly higher.

"Buyers were likely anticipating further rate increases and locking-in at the low rates, and investors added to overall demand with all-cash offers," Yun said.