The sales pace of existing homes surged 6.7% in January after falling in December, as buyers got off the fence and went shopping ahead of rising interest rates, the National Association of Realtors reported.

January home and condo sales activity tumbled from December.

Single-family housing starts fell 5.6% from December’s revised estimate to 1,116,000, while multifamily starts slid 2.1% to 510,000, the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said.

Bay State home sales reached their highest level since 2006 in January, while median sales prices started showing signs of softening.

January foreclosure filings were the highest since the start of the pandemic, according to a new report. 

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration increased to 3.93% from 3.86%, the Mortgage Bankers Association said. 

Across the country, 10% of ZIP codes with the largest share of children had an average home value growth of 21.3% from October 2020 to October 2021.

Home-price growth could slow by the end of 2022, despite the housing market breaking records in January.

Home-price growth is expected to average about 5% this year, far below the record-breaking pace set in 2021, RCLCO reported. 

Nationally, pending home sales fell as interest rates rose last month.

The new year kicked off with the hottest January on record, despite having the first pending sales decline since June of 2020, according to a recent Redfin report.  Last month, 45% of homes found a buyer within two weeks

The median price of a single-family home in the Bay State topped $500,000 last year.

Home values grew 19.6% last year, an all-time high in Zillow’s data, which goes back more than 20 years.

Boston, Barnstable and Worcester had three of the largest year-over-year increases.

Builders started to make headway against supply-chain issues that have hampered construction of homes in the face of high demand. 

The hot housing market has been held back by lack of inventory, but it’s not tempering prices, only the amount of sales.