Exsisting Home Sales Rise in January

Existing-home sales increased in January, up 4.3% from December. Though some of the increase was a result of December being downwardly revised, it still marks the third gain in the past four months. The 4.57 million existing-home sales is also the largest reported number since January 2011. Total housing inventory also fell, dropping .4% to 2.31 million. This represents a 6.1-month supply at the current sales pace. Down from a 6.4-month supply in December.

Existing Home Sales is a measure of the selling rate of pre-owned single-family homes, collected by the National Association of Realtors from 650 realtor associations. This report sometimes moves markets and is considered a good gauge of near-term spending for housing-related items and of consumer spending in general.