As is the case with a majority of housing and mortgage market data these days, the Existing Home Sales data from NAR is heavily dependent on context. To be sure, the headline is true. You'd have to go back to report that came out in February, 2024 to see a higher annual pace of sales.

(NOTE: the table above contains initially-reported numbers.  NAR subsequently revised  the 3/31/24 report up to 4.31m)

And if you were to chart these values only, the chart would probably look pretty good for the present month, but it would also belie the situation in the trenches.  Home sales certainly aren't in freefall in the bigger picture, but they're generally still sideways at long term lows.

Realtors credited an uptick in inventory for the uptick in sales.

Additional details are available at NAR's release page here: https://www.nar.realtor/newsroom/existing-home-sales-accelerated-4-2-in-february