WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Housing-market activity in September hit its second highest in eight years, fueled by low mortgage rates, continued jobs growth and a slight improvement in credit availability, a trade group said Thursday.

Existing-home sales rose 4.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.55 million, the second highest level in eight years, the National Association of Realtors reported. Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast a 5.34 million annualized sales rate. Compared with a year earlier, sales were up 8.8%.

It’s important to note the data are seasonally adjusted; activity always peaks in the spring and summer, and, based on raw numbers, activity fell by 6.5%.

That said, the September data indicated a continued recovery in the housing market. Mortgage rates have remained below 4% for weeks, and the unemployment rate has dropped to 5.1% from a peak of 10%. In addition, the NAR is detecting signs that the credit situation is improving.

“We think the credit box is opening up,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the NAR. He said the credit scores for Fannie Mae– and Freddie Mac–backed mortgages have dropped to 750 from 760, and, less visibly, lenders are relying less on FICO-score algorithms because they don’t see that as predicting default rates correctly.

There were 2.21 million available homes for sale, down 3% from August. At the current sales pace, it would take 4.8 months to exhaust the current inventory, lower than the 5.4 months reported a year ago.

“It is getting tighter than before,” Yun said. “Come spring of next year, we could be facing a very tight situation unless home builders ramp up production.”

The median price for a home was $221,900, up 6.1% from the same month in 2014. Tight inventories have helped push up prices.

Also read:Obama bid for more affordable homes is lifting house prices

So-called distressed sales represent 7% of all activity in September, the lowest level of this cycle, with 6% of that being foreclosures and 1% being short sales.

All-cash purchases represented 24% of all transactions, with investors representing 13% of the market, both numbers in line with recent trends.

First-time buyers represented 29% of all transactions, still well below historical levels of around 40%.

It’s people who have equity that are in the market, Yun reported, using that equity to make down payments.