Home Prices Climbed At Their Fastest Rate Since November 2005

But the one key detail was the rise in home prices.

The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $173,600 in January, up 12.3 percent from a year ago, according to NAR.

Existing home prices continued to rise for the eleventh straight month.

This is also the biggest gain since November 2005 when home prices were up 12.9 percent.

A breakdown by region shows median existing home prices surged the most the in West, up 26.6 percent year-over-year in January, to $239,800. But existing home sales in the region were down the most, falling 5.7 percent to a pace of 1.15 million.

In the Midwest median home prices were up 8.6 percent from a year ago to $131,800. In the South they were up 13.4 percent year-over-year to $152,100, and in the West they surge

The Northeast continued to be the region with the slowest recovery in home prices, with median existing home prices rising 2.4 percent from a year ago to $230,500. The Northeast did however see that biggest increase in existing home sales, up 4.8 percent to an annual rate of 650K.