The median price of a home sold in January was $396,900, up 4.8% from the year before and the highest price ever for the month of January.

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell in January as rising mortgage rates and prices put off many would-be homebuyers.

Maine homebuyers paid a median of $385,000 in January, a 9% increase over the same time last year, according to data released Friday by the Maine Association of Realtors. The median is the price at which half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less.

Existing-home sales fell in the first month of the year as buyers continued to struggle with high home prices and 7% mortgage rates. Home sales fell 4.9% in January to a 4.08 million pace. That’s the number of homes that would be sold over an entire year if sales took place at the same rate in every month as they did in December.

Home buyers and sellers had a tough winter, new data confirm. It will be a chilly spring for first-time buyers if mortgage rates don’t fall, says one economist. Previously owned homes were sold at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.

Sales of previously occupied US homes fell in January as rising mortgage rates and prices put off many would-be homebuyers despite a wider selection of properties on the market. Sales fell 4.9% last month from December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.