Sales of new homes saw an additional increase in February, according to a recent press release from the National Association of Home Builders.

Newly-built single-family home sales increased 6.1 percent in February to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 592,000 units. In January, new home sales increased 3.7 percent.  The inventory of new homes for sale hit 266,000 in February, a 5.4 month supply if the sales pace stays the same. This is an increase of 12.8 percent from February 2016, according to Quicken Loans. The median sale price of new homes sold in February was $296,200, down from $312,900 in January, but 2.8 percent higher than last February’s level.

“February’s increase in new home sales is consistent with builders’ growing confidence in the housing market,” said Granger MacDonald, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder and developer from Kerrville, Texas. “Builders are encouraged by heightened consumer activity and by the expectation that regulatory costs will decline in the year ahead.”

“The uptick in mortgage interest rates is having a minimal effect on new home sales thus far,” said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz. “Ongoing job creation, rising household formations and affordable home prices should keep the market on an upward trajectory in 2017.”

However, sales in regions across the nation differed greatly. In the Northeast, sales decreased 21.4 percent. Yet, in the Midwest, sales rose 30.9 percent, the West saw a 7.5 increase in sales and the South’s sales grew 3.6 percent.