Here's why home sales are finally surging

Prices are skyrocketing, aided by a stronger job market and tantalizingly low mortgage rates that are creating pressure for buyers to act fast.

[...] employers have hired 3.1 million additional workers in the past year as the unemployment rate has slid to 5.5 percent from 6.3 percent.

[...] mortgage rates are affordably low but beginning to rise as the Federal Reserve prepares to a key interest rate for the first time in nearly a decade.

[...] the rising prices mean that more homeowners are starting to regain the equity lost in their homes during the downturn.

The number of mortgage holders owing more on their loans than their homes are worth has tumbled 19 percent in the past year to 5.1 million — or 10.2 percent of all mortgaged properties, according to real estate analytics firm CoreLogic.

"The housing market is unique in that the sellers are also the majority of the buyers," said Mark Fleming, chief economist at First American, a title insurance and real estate services firm.

Buyers such as Amanda Fyler saw more financial benefits in owning after renting a 400 square-foot studio in Washington, D.C. The 32 year-old nonprofit analyst is in the middle of finalizing the purchase of a two-bedroom condominium.