• Existing home sales increased 3 percent in February to 5.54 million units at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR), recovering after falling for two consecutive months.
• Sales likely would have been stronger if it were not for weather-related disruptions in February in the Northeast and Midwest.
• The number of homes for sale posted the largest month-over-month increase in a year and a half, but remains down sharply over the past year.
• The median seasonally adjusted price of existing homes sold in February increased 0.7 percent from February to $256,300, a new all-time high.

Existing home sales increased 3 percent in February to 5.54 million units at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR), according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), breaking a string of two consecutive months of declining sales. Year-over-year, February existing home sales rose 1.1 percent.

In a welcome boost to the struggling single-family market, sales of existing single-family homes posted a 4.2 percent increase from January and are up 1.8 percent from February 2017. By contrast, condo/coop sales fell 6.5 percent from January and are down 4.9 percent from last February. It was the largest year-over-year percent decline in existing condo/coop sales since August 2014.

Sales likely would have been stronger were it not for weather-related disruptions in February in the Northeast and Midwest. Regionally, sales posted a sharp increase in the West (up 11.4 percent from January) – which was largely unaffected by adverse weather and is arguably the most supply-constrained region nationwide – and in the South (up 6.6 percent over the month). Sales fell in the Northeast (down 12.3 percent) and the Midwest (down 2.4 percent).

The number of existing homes on the market increased 1.4 percent to 1.74 million units (SAAR), the largest percent increase since October 2016, which totals to about 23,200 more homes on the market compared to the previous month. For-sale inventory is still down 8.3 percent from a year earlier. But it is notable that inventory has now increased for two consecutive months, the first time this has occurred in a year and a half.

The median seasonally adjusted price of existing homes sold in February surged to a new all-time record, increasing by 0.7 percent to $256,300, up 5.8 percent over the year.