For the first time in seven months, the monthly sales of existing homes were higher than the year before, reports the National Association of Realtors (NAR).  Sales in January were up 2.7 percent over December to an annual rate of 5.36 million, and 5.3 percent better than January 2010, according to CNNMoney.com. Although the median price fell to $158,000, three percent lower than one year ago, the report was better than analysts had predicted.  Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said despite restricted mortgage lending, mortgage rates are still low and there is a large supply of homes to choose from.