January home sales rise ahead of expected rate hikes

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes rose in January 2022, as a surge in buyers paying cash and other would-be homeowners eager to avoid higher mortgage rates snapped up properties, leaving the number of available houses on the market at a record low. The National Association of Realtors said Friday (Feb. 18, 2022) that existing home sales rose 6.7% last month from December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.5 million. Sales slipped 2.3% from January 2021, while the median home price jumped 15.4% from a year earlier to $350,300. Prices climbed as would-be buyers competed for a shrinking pool of homes on the market. The number of homes for sale at the end of January totaled just 860,000– the fewest since the NAR began tracking it in 1999.