The National Association of Realtors reported that home resales fell 7.2% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.05 million units, down from the revised rate of 5.44 million in December. Still, on a year-over-year basis, sales were up 11.4%.

The drop surprised many industry analysts. Existing home sales were expected to increase slightly to an annual rate of 5.5 million, according to consensus estimates from Briefing.com.

The January sales rate was the lowest since June, when the rate stood at 4.9 million units.

The drop was due in part to a delay between shopping for a home and closing on it among buyers taking advantage of a popular tax credit, according to Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist.

“People who got into the market after the homebuyer tax credit was extended in November have only recently started to offer contracts, so it will take a couple months to close those sales,” Yun said in a statement.

In November, Congress extended and expanded a credit that allows first-time buyers to deduct up to $8,000 from their income taxes and some repeat buyers to get a $6,500 break. Buyers now have until April 31 to qualify for the credit, which helped boost new home sales from depressed levels last year.

Analysts expect sales to pick up in coming months as the deadline for the tax credit looms.