This is amazing news coming from NAR.

In February the number of homes sold rose 5.1% to a seasonally adjusted 4.72 Million units, compared to 4.49M annualized units.  The bulk of the increase in sales is due to the increase of distressed homes.  The Nation Wide average home price is $165,400 down 15.5% from one year ago. 

As it has been for the past couple months, existing home sales were stronger in the West than the rest of the nation — primarily in the struggling housing market of California. Existing home sales in the region were up 2.6% from a month ago to 1.2 million annualized units, and are up 30.4% from a year ago.

In the Northeast, sales rose 15.6% to an annualized rate of 740,000 units and are down 14.9% from a year ago. In the Midwest, sales were basically flat — up 1% — to 1.04 million units.

In the struggling Southern market, existing home sales rose 6.1% to an annualized rate of 1.74 million units, according to the trade organization.