India, Jan. 22 -- Existing home sales in the U.S. unexpectedly rebounded in the month of December, according to a report released by the National Association of Realtors on Friday.

NAR said existing home sales climbed by 0.7 percent to an annual rate of 6.76 million in December after tumbling by 2.2 percent to a revised rate of 6.71 million in November.

The rebound surprised economists, who had expected existing home sales to slump by 2.1 percent to a rate of 6.55 million from the 6.69 million originally reported for the previous month.

With the unexpected monthly increase, existing home sales in December were up by 22.2 percent compared to the same month a year ago.

"Home sales rose in December, and for 2020 as a whole, we saw sales ...