Existing home sales grew 0.4% to a seasonally adjusted 5.47 million-unit rate in January from a downwardly revised 12.1% increase to a 5.45 million pace the previous month, the National Association of Realtors announced Tuesday.
The December rate was originally reported as up 14.7% to a 5.46 million pace.
The January rate represents an 11.0% increase from the same month a year ago, and surpassed of the median 5.35 million unit pace predicted by economists polled by Thomson Reuters.
"The housing market has shown promising resilience in recent months, but home prices are still rising too fast because of ongoing supply constraints," said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun. "Despite the global economic slowdown, the housing sector continues to recover and will likely help the U.S. economy avoid a recession."
Sales in January were mixed. They were up 4.0% in the Midwest and 2.7% in the Northeast. Sales were unchanged in the South, and down 4.1% in the West,.
The median sales price was $213,800 in January, an 8.2% increase from a year ago.
Inventory levels grew 3.4% from the previous month to 1.82 million existing homes, representing a 4.0-month supply at the current pace. Inventory was down 2.2% from the January 2015 level.
