Investing.com - Sales of previously-owned U.S. homes rose in February, according to figures released by the National Association of Realtors on Wednesday.
Existing home sales rose 3.0% in February from the previous month to an annualized pace of 5.54 million units.
Economists had forecast a 0.5% increase to an annualized pace of 5.41 million.
Existing home sales account for 90% of the market and are calculated when a contract closes.
"The very healthy U.S. economy and labor market are creating a sizeable interest in buying a home in early 2018," NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said.
Yun noted that prices continued to register a considerable increase, pointing to the annualized 5.9% rise since February of last year in what was the 72nd consecutive month of year-over-year gains.
“Affordability continues to be a pressing issue because new and existing housing supply is still severely subpar,” Yun added.