“More jobs are very likely, due to the near certain passage of the $1.9 trillion stimulus package and from two million vaccinations per day,” National Association of Realtors chief economist Lawrence Yun said in a release.

The increase follows a decline earlier in February that cut the number of homeowners in forbearance plans to less than 2.7 million, the first dip below that threshold since April 2020.

New home listings nationwide fell 17% from last year, while median home sale prices are up 15%, according to a recent Redfin report.  

The all-time high for January comes as limited supply cut pending transactions on a monthly basis, the association said.

The median sales price in the first month of 2021 was up 11.8% from January 2020 to $285,000, nearly matching the record high of $290,000 set last August.

The Cape Cod real estate market remained strong coming off a record-setting 2020 fueled by high demand and low inventory.

In Boston, 15.5% of last year’s Redfin searches were for homes priced higher than $1 million.

Additionally, the report found Massachusetts has the highest school system rating at 21.70% (18.1% times higher than Montana which had the lowest at 1.20%).

A new report from Redfin shows how inventory shortages are driving a chain reaction that includes accelerating home prices, unprecedented competition and surprisingly, the suppression of much-needed new listings.

A cold winter is no match for home sales as they continued to increase last month despite all-time high prices and record low inventory.

“In the final months of 2020, single-family rents posted the highest increases in over four years,” said Molly Boesel, principal economist at CoreLogic. “However, single-family rent price reaction to the pandemic and resulting recession differed greatly across metros.”

Zillow’s national figures showed high demand for housing in urban areas helping values in cities keep pace with those in the suburbs.

The report added that vacation homes and affordable homes in small towns near major urban centers were in strong demand as a result of the pandemic.

The trend of purchasing a second home has sent home prices in seasonal towns skyrocketing in value by 19% for the year ending December 2020.

Americans are leaving the Northwest and Midwest in favor of the warmer Southeast and Southwest, according to a new report.

  Affordability is fast becoming a concern in Boston and other housing markets as home prices soar amidst a continuing supply shortage spurred by low interest rates, according to the most recent edition of the CoreLogic Home Pricing Index.