Homeowners and Realtors® across the nation can take heart in the news that sales of previously owned homes spiked to a five-month high in April as buyers rushed to take advantage of the government’s home buyer tax credit.

April sales of existing homes rose 7.6 percent month-over-month to an annual rate of 5.77 million units, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). That figure exceeded market expectations of a 5.65 million-unit pace.

Foreclosed properties accounted for a third of those home sales, the NAR said. First-time buyers made up 49 percent of transactions; many of those using the tax credit, and 26 percent of sales last month were cash purchases, not requiring mortgage loans. Normally, cash purchases account for only 10 percent or less of home sales.

“There is going to be a retrenchment in home sales after the tax credit is over. We are expecting that by the end of the year, sales will rise again on the strength of economic growth and we see job growth picking up,” Celia Chen, a director at Moody’s Analytics tells Reuters.

To qualify for the federal tax credit, buyers had to sign contracts by April 30 and close on the home by the end of June. Since existing home sales are measured at the time of closing, analysts expect sales to remain high through next month.

Despite the April surge in sales, however, the inventory of existing homes for sale in April rose 11.5 percent to 4.04 million units, the highest since July, 2009. Although the NAR attributed the rise in the supply of homes on the market to seasonal factors, analysts said the gain in inventory would be a drag on house prices.

“Supply is now rising quite quickly as would-be-sellers see a chance to move their property. We remain nervous that this wave of supply will push prices back down in the second half of the year,” economist Ian Shepherdson told Reuters.

The U.S. economy has now grown for three straight quarters following its worst recession in 70 years and mortgage rates remain near record low levels. But a full recovery of the housing market is still being held back by high unemployment and record home foreclosures.