The National Association of Realtors reports that existing home sales reached their highest pace in 10 years this March, increasing 4.4 percent month over month.

March's existing home sales is up 5.9 percent year over year and surpassed January 2017 as the strongest month of sales since February 2007. The increase was led by hefty gains in the Northeast and Midwest. The West was the only region that saw a decline in sales.

"The early returns so far this spring buying season look very promising as a rising number of households dipped their toes into the market and were successfully able to close on a home last month," said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. "Although finding available properties to buy continues to be a strenuous task for many buyers, there was enough of a monthly increase in listings in March for sales to muster a strong gain. Sales will go up as long as inventory does."

Total housing inventory increased 5.8 percent in March is 1.83 million existing homes available for sale, but is still 6.6 percent lower than a year ago (1.96 million) and has fallen year-over-year for 22 straight months.