Investing.com - U.S. existing home sales rose to the highest level in three years in February, industry data showed on Thursday.
In a report, the National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales eased up 0.8% to a seasonally adjusted 4.98 million units in February from January's revised total of 4.94 million.
January existing home sales were initially reported at 4.92 million units.
Analysts had expected U.S. existing home sales to rise 1.6% to 5.0 million units in February.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said conditions for continued housing improvement are at play.
"Job growth in the improving economy and pent-up demand are causing both home sales and rental leasing to rise."
Following the release of the data, the U.S. dollar held on to gains against the euro, with EUR/USD shedding 0.32% to trade at 1.2893.
Meanwhile, U.S. equity markets were lower after the open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4%, the S&P 500 index declined 0.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite index lost 0.9%.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
