US existing home sales jump in February amid brisk demand

Sales of existing homes in the U.S. shot higher by the most since one year ago in February amid brisk demand.

According to the National Association of Realtors, in seasonally adjusted terms the number of existing homes jumped by 9.5% month-on-month to reach 4.38m.

Economists had anticipated a slight dip to 3.94m.

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

"Housing demand has been on a steady rise due to population and job growth, though the actual timing of purchases will be determined by prevailing mortgage rates and wider inventory choices."

The number of homes available for sale was 1.07m or 5.9% more than in January.

However, in terms of how many months' worth of sales, then the available supply fell 3.0 months to 2.9.

One year before the inventory of homes available for sale had stood at 2.6.

The median price of an existing home was up by 5.7% year-on-year at $384,500.