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Home sales jump to fastest pace in almost two years

Fred Prouser / Reuters

Sales of previously owned homes rose 4.3 percent in January, the fastest pace in almost two years, a trade group reports.

By Msnbc.com staff and wire

Sales of previously owned homes surged in January to the fastest pace since May 2010 in another sign that the housing market is slowly making some headway against its longest dip since the Great Depression.
The National Association of Realtors, a industry trade group, reported Wednesday that existing-home sales -- the lion's share of the housing market -- rose 4.3 percent in January. The equates to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.57 million homes, which is still well below the 6 million pace that economists say is needed for a healthy housing market. "Overall this is not such a bad number. It's reflective of a better jobs market, but the improvement is going to be in fits and starts," said Yelena Shulyatyeva, U.S. economist at BNP Paribas in New York.

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