January home sales rise ahead of expected rate hikes

By ALEX VEIGA
AP Business Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes rose in January, 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 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.