WASHINGTON, D.C.: Amid easing mortgage rates and more properties on the market, in February, sales of previously occupied U.S. homes increased from the previous month to the strongest pace in a year.

This week, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) said that last month, existing home sales rose 9.5 percent from January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.38 million, the strongest sales pace since February 2023.

In February, sales rose monthly for the second consecutive month, but it was still 3.3 percent lower the previous year.

This upward trend drove home prices higher than last year for the eighth consecutive month, with the national median sales price climbing 5.7 percent from a year earlier to $384,500, the highest median sales price for February on record going back to 1999.

There were 1.07 million unsold homes on the market at the end of last month, a 5.9 percent rise from January and 10.3 percent higher than a year earlier, which was the highest inventory of homes for sale for February since 2020, according to the NAR.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said, "Additional housing supply is helping to satisfy market demand."