WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Sales of single-family houses in the United States soared seven months ago to a record high. This helped alleviate an acute supply of homes for sale. However, rising house prices pose a problem for first-time home buyers.

According to the Commerce Department, new home sales increased by 12.4%, reaching a seasonally adjusted annual rate last month of 744,000, which was the highest since April. The October sales pace has been revised to 6622,000 units, down from the previous reported 745,000.

While sales rose in densely populated South and in the West, Northeast, Northeast, as well as the West and Northeast regions of the country, they fell in the Midwest.

Reuters polled economists to forecast that new home sales would rise at a rate greater than 770,000 units. They account for over 10% of U.S. house sales.

In November, sales fell 14.0% year-on-year. Their peak in January was 993,000 units, the highest rate since June 2006.

According to the National Association of Realtors, inventory of homes that were previously owned fell by eight months in November.

In November, the median house price rose 18.8% to $416,000.900, compared with a year prior. The market had 402,000 homes, an increase of 392,000 in October.

The inventory was composed 62.9% by houses under construction, and 27.4% of homes still to be constructed.

The government released data last week that showed a record number of houses still being built but not completed. The shortage of workers, high-priced materials and delayed delivery are all causing problems for builders.

According to November’s current sales pace, it will take 6.5 month for houses to sell. This is down from October’s 7.7 months.