The pace of existing-home sales rose to its highest level since December last month, even as supply constraints pushed median home prices to a new monthly record.

Increasing 3.2% from a year ago, the annualized 4.17 million units sold in May was the fastest sales pace for the month of May since 2023, according to National Association of Realtors (NAR) data.

The NAR report, released Tuesday, reflected a 3.2% monthly increase from April’s sales pace as resilient purchase demand pushed the median existing-home sales price 1.3% higher from a year ago to $429,300 — an all-time high for May.

“Improving affordability is helping drive this momentum,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun commented in the report. He noted that mortgage rates “are essentially at the long-term historical average” and income gains have been “outpacing home price growth by a small margin in most parts of the country.”

Not all U.S. regions enjoyed the same sales momentum last month, however. The pace of existing-home sales sank 8% compared to a year ago in the Northeast, while rising by 2% from a year ago in Midwest, nearly 6% in the South and 5.6% in the West.

Sales were flat on a monthly basis in the West, meanwhile, but rose 2.2% from April in the Northeast, 6.4% in the Midwest and 3.2% in the South. For-sale homes stayed on the market for a median 29 days in May, down from 32 days in April but up from 27 days last May.

“Increased home sales mean more economic activity — lawn care, furniture purchases, moving services, mortgage originations and other related business activities all get a boost,” added Yun.

Existing-home sales reflect closed contract activity, meaning the sales reported by NAR on Tuesday largely reflect properties that went under contract in April. Average mortgage rates on typical 30-year home loans were 6.33% in April, according to Freddie Mac data, compared to 6.44% in May, as economic impacts from the ongoing Iran war deepened.

On the inventory side, NAR reported 1.55 million units were available for sale in May, an increase of 3.3% from April but just 0.6% higher than a year ago.

That reflects 4.5 months’ supply of unsold homes — or how long it would take current inventory to run out at the current sales pace — which was flat from April and down from 4.6 months one year ago.

With new listings falling more than 4% in May from year-ago levels, according to Zillow, some housing economists caution that signs of sellers pulling back may lead to a slower sales pace in the second half of 2026.