NYC Apartment Agent

Existing Home Sales Near Two-Year High (Photo by Bruno J. Navarro)

NEW YORK — It’s not your imagination: The real estate market is hot again.

Sales of existing homes grew almost to the highest rate in two years, while prices saw the biggest increase since 2006.

Last month, existing U.S. home sales increased 3.4 percent to an annual rate of 4.62 million units, according to the National Association of Realtors.

That rate was the highest since May 2010.

Anecdotally, sales activity has picked up in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, as previously forecast. I expect the data to show significant gains when it becomes available.

At the same time, home resale prices nationwide soared to a median of $177,400 in April, up 10.1 percent from a year earlier.

“That was the biggest year-over-year increase since January 2006,” according to Reuters.

Mortgage rates, too, continued their downward trend.

The average rate for a 30-year loan dropped to 3.79 percent, a Freddie Mac survey showed.

That was even lower than the record low set earlier this month.

As always, if you’re looking to buy, sell or rent a home in New York, please let me know.

UPDATE: The data gets a boost from federal statistics, which show similar gains among new homes.

The Real Deal writes, “Sales of new single-family homes rose 3.3 percent month-over-month in April 2012 and 9.9 percent year-over-year, according to a release issued by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. April saw new home sales at a seasonally adjusted rate of 343,000 units.”