The sales of existing homes in the United States rose to their highest level in 18 months in the month of March as more and more homes came on the market, signaling a strengthening housing sector ahead of the selling season of spring.

The report of the National Association of Realtors, which was released on Wednesday, showed that the existing home sales rose 6.1 percent to an annual rate of 5.19 million units last month. This was the highest level reported since September 2013. Moreover, the percent surge was the largest since December 2010.

According to the market analysts, the fairly upbeat report provided another indication that the country’s economy was regaining some amount of momentum after striking at a speed bump at the beginning of the new year.

However, data on housing starts, retail sales and manufacturing indicate the rebound in second-quarter growth will likely be inadequate to convince the US Federal Reserve Bank to begin raising rates of interest in June.

Gennadiy Goldberg, an economist at New York-based TD Securities, said, “The stronger rebound in home resales is extremely encouraging as it hints at a nascent rebound in economic activity over the coming weeks.”

Several economists had predicted home resales increasing to only a 5.03 million-unit pace in March.

The US housing index declined in line with the broader stock market. The greenback emerged weaker against a basket of global currencies. The US Treasury debt prices also witnessed a drop.