Americans shrugged off rising mortgage rates and bought existing homes in January at the fastest pace since 2007, The Associated Press reports.
The National Association of Realtors says home sales rose 3.3% in January from December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.69 million.
Steady job gains, modest pay raises and rising consumer confidence are spurring healthy home buying even as borrowing costs have risen since last fall. Some potential buyers may be accelerating their home purchases to get ahead of any further increases in mortgage rates.
Buyers are snapping up homes, with the typical house for sale remaining on the market for just 50 days, compared with 64 days a year ago. Strong demand is pushing up median home prices, which jumped 7.1% from a year earlier to $228,900.
Mortgage rates have climbed since the presidential election. Investors are anticipating tax cuts, deregulation and infrastructure spending will accelerate growth and push up inflation. That has caused investors to cut back on their bond holdings, pushing up yields.
By some measures, the housing market has fully recovered from the bust that began in 2006. Yet its newfound health is creating its own set of challenges. The number of homes for sale remains unusually low, forcing buyers to bid up prices, especially in sought-after cities such as San Francisco, Seattle and Nashville.
Last year, low mortgage rates helped offset rising home prices. Yet now both are rising, which could hamstring sales in the coming months.
