Don’t miss the full story, whose reporting from Alex Veiga at The Associated Press is the basis of this artificial intelligence-assisted article.
U.S. existing home sales rose modestly in February, buoyed by easing mortgage rates and a slight uptick in inventory, though the market continues to struggle with high prices, limited supply and affordability challenges heading into the spring homebuying season.
Some key facts:
• Existing home sales rose 1.7% in February from January, reaching a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.09 million units, topping economist expectations of 3.84 million.
• Sales fell 1.4% compared with February of the prior year, with every region except the South posting year-over-year declines.
• The national median home sales price rose 0.3% year-over-year to $398,000, an all-time high for any February since data collection began in 1999.
• Home prices have increased on an annual basis for 32 consecutive months.
• First-time buyers accounted for 34% of all February purchases, matching the highest share in five years.
• There were 1.29 million unsold homes at the end of February, up 2.4% from January and up 4.9% from a year earlier, but still well below pre-pandemic norms of roughly 2 million.
READ MORE: U.S. homes sales picked up in February as homebuyers seized on easing mortgage rates
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