Home Depot raised its outlook for the year and reported better-than-expected sales in its second quarter, as the home improvement retailer continues to benefit from the housing recovery.

Shares rallied almost 2% in pre-market trading.

During the quarter, total sales rose 4.3% to $24.8 billion, coming in ahead of analyst estimates of $24.7 billion.

"We saw balanced growth across our business resulting from strength in the core of the store as well as the continued recovery of the U.S. housing market," said CEO Craig Menear in a statement.

Same-store sales at the company's more than 2,200 existing locations in North America rose 4.2%, while same-store sales jumped a larger 5.7% if you look strictly at U.S. locations.