Existing home sales increased last month for only the third time since May amid a tumultuous housing market featuring high mortgage rates.
Home sales in February rose a strong 9.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.38 million, the National Association of Realtors reported on Thursday. That is the largest increase since February of last year.
Mortgage rates, which recently have been inching higher, are still pricing out many would-be buyers and leading to people avoiding selling.
The pace of home sales is down 3.3% from the year before.
Total housing inventory at the end of February was 1.07 …