Home Depot saw its sales remain strong in its fourth quarter as it continues to benefit from a sizzling housing market. Sales for the three months ended Jan. 30 rose to $35.72 billion from $32.26 billion. This beat the $34.88 billion that analysts polled by FactSet forecast. Sales at stores open at least a year, a key gauge of a retailer’s health, climbed 8.1 percent. In the U.S., the metric increased. 7.6 percent. Home improvement stores have been busy during the pandemic as people working from home took on new projects. Many also moved into new homes with more space for a home office. Sales of previously occupied homes rose in January as a surge in buyers with cash and others eager to avoid higher mortgage rates snapped up properties, leaving the number of available houses on the market at a record low. Existing home sales rose 6.7 percent last …