Based on a report issued by The National Association of Realtors, existing home sales had a sharp increase in February, raising 5.1% from 4.49 million units in January to 4.72 in Febuary. About half of those purchases were down by first-time buyers, with another 45% consisting of sales of distressed properties. The western region of the United States, had the best increase, having 30% more sales then the prior year.

This is a unexpected occurrence, as based on a conducted by Briefing.com, most economists expected the existing home sales figure to lower by 4.45 million. Why the sudden increase? Mike Larson, a real estate analyst for Weiss Research, has the answer, saying that "The increase in sales activity is coming at the expense of pricing." Lawrence Yun, the NAR chief, further elaborated on the situation stating that prices had been depressed due to the massive amounts of foreclosed properties sitting on the market. Says Yun, "Our analysis shows that distressed homes typically are selling for 20% less than the normal market price, and this naturally is drawing down the overall median price." The median price shown on existing home sales in Feb, was down 15.5% then that of last year, going from $195,800 to $165,400.

The amount of existing homes currently on the market increased at the end of February, hitting 5.2%, or 3.80 million units. If this pattern continues, it may take 9.7 months to get rid of the surplus of homes on the market. Overall, since July, a decrease has been seen in the amount of homes sitting on the market. At least, according to Ian Shepherdson, a chief economist with High Frequency Economics, "Though a sustained recovery is still a long way off,", he feels that there is hope that the slump seen in homes sales since September could be ending.