Sales of existing homes were up in January, according to figures released February 22 from the National Association of Realtors.

Sales were up 4.3 percent in the first month of 2012, the third overall gain in four months, according to the NAR. At the same time, the nation's inventory of houses for sale fell slightly to 2.31 million, down 0.4 percent from December. At the current rate of sales, this represents a 6.1 month supply of houses.

Conditions in the housing market have been favorable for buyers over the last few weeks and months, noted Lawrence Yun, the chief economist of the NAR.

“The uptrend in home sales is in line with all of the underlying fundamentals – pent-up household formation, record-low mortgage interest rates, bargain home prices, sustained job creation and rising rents," he said.

Already-low interest rates kept falling through January to hit new records in February. For three straight weeks between January 26 and February 16, mortgage capital lender Freddie Mac announced 30-year fixed mortgage rates to be 3.87 percent, an all-time low.

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