Sales of previously occupied homes in the U.S. rose 4.0 percent in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.42 million, the National Association of Realtors said on Wednesday. The Wall Street Journal reported that a poll of economists had predicted sales would go up 2 percent.

At the same time, NAR adjusted its 2007-2010 existing-home sales data down 14.3 percent in what it called a benchmark revision. Some data-keepers had suggested NAR numbers were too high.

For 2010, that was a drop from 4,908,000 sales to 4,190,000. The association posted a video on its website ecxplaining the change.

This November's sales were 12.2 percent above the revised November 2010 level.

The realtors' organization took the latest report as good news.

"Sales reached the highest mark in 10 months and are 34 percent above the cyclical low point in mid-2010 – a genuine sustained sales recovery appears to be developing," Lawrence Yun, the group's chief economist, said in a statement accompanying the data.