New single-family home sales in the U.S. increased 4.3% on a monthly basis in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 923,000 units, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. On an annual basis, new-home sales rose by 19.3%.

Existing-home sales rose by 0.6% from the previous month and were up 23.7% from January 2020, according to the National Association of Realtors. NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said in a recent release that home sales continue to rise in the first month of 2021 as buyers quickly purchased every new listing that came on the market. "Sales easily could have been even 20% higher if there had been more inventory and more choices," he added.

By contrast, privately owned single-unit housing starts dropped 12.2% month over month in January, but increased by 17.5% on a yearly basis.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index continued to increase in December 2020, rising 1.3% month over month after seasonal adjustment, and up 10.4% on an annual basis.

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