Sales of previously-owned homes rose in June to another cycle high, fresh evidence of a housing market that continues to power through ongoing headwinds on its way back to normalcy.

Existing-home sales rose 1.1% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.57 million in June, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. That was 3% higher than a year ago and the strongest since February 2007.

Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had forecast a 5.47 million rate, and May’s pace, previously reported as 5.53 million, was revised down fractionally to 5.51 million.

June also marked a shift in the composition of buyers. First-timers made up 33% of all purchases, the most in four years, while the share of investor purchases declined to 11%, the lowest since July 2009.

The share of property sales that are distressed also continues to decline. Only 6% of sales were distressed, down from 8% a year ago. Of those, 4% were foreclosures, the lowest since NAR began tracking in October 2008.

The challenge for the housing market now isn’t that too many properties are unwanted, it’s that too many are unaffordable. In June, supply was 5.8% lower than a year ago, the 13th consecutive month of yearly declines.

When supply is seasonally adjusted, there were 4.3 months’ worth of homes available at the current sales pace, according to Trulia Chief Economist Ralph McLaughlin. That’s the lowest since 2005, and covers a bigger population, McLaughlin noted.

Those constraints continue to drive prices up. In June, the median price was $247,700, 4.8% higher than a year ago.

Despite higher prices, the share of first-time buyers increased. They made up 33% of all purchases, the biggest share in four years. Investors made up only 11% of sales, the lowest since 2009.

First-timers are making headway in local markets that aren’t matching the white-hot national averages, McLaughlin told MarketWatch,

“There certainly is room to grow and as wages to continue to increase from a tightening labor market, that should help people save for a down payment,” McLaughlin said. But lending standards remain so much tighter than in the past that McLaughlin doesn’t think first-timers will soon regain the 40% share they enjoyed for decades.