Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes posted a five-point gain to 46 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index for November.

This marks the seventh consecutive monthly gain in the confidence gauge and brings it to its highest point since May 2006.

The National Association of Realtors said today that sales of existing homes rose 2.1 percent in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.79 million from a revised rate of 4.69 million in September, MarketWatch reported.

The median price for existing homes rose 11.1 percent from the prior year to $178,600, and inventories declined 1.4 percent to 2.14 million units.