Dance image via Shutterstock.

Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of articles on homebuilders’ willingness to pay commissions to real estate agents who can bring buyers to their properties.

As the housing recovery picks up steam and new-home sales return to historical levels, will builders stop courting Realtors?

Sales of new single-family homes were up 28.9 percent from a year ago in January, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 437,000, according to a recent U.S. Census Bureau report. That’s the best January since 2008, and there’s plenty more room to run — new-home sales exceeded 1 million a year during the last boom.

“It is safe to assume that new homes construction will continue to move forward, if not surge,” said David Crowe, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders, in a February report.