Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes increased last month to the fastest pace since February as lower mortgage rates helped pull more homebuyers into the market.

Existing home sales rose 1.2% in October from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.10 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday.

Sales climbed 1.7% compared with October last year. The latest sales figure topped the roughly 4.09 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet.

October’s home sales were likely limited by the federal government shutdown, which could have delayed some transactions that would have closed last month.

The national median sales price increased 2.1% in October from a year earlier to $415,200, an all-time high for any October on data going

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