A lack of homes on the market both restricted real estate salesin March and led to higher prices for the real estate that sold,according to the NationalAssociation of Realtors.

The association reported this week that March sales fell 0.6%off of February's pace, which had already been revised downward,but the pace remained a solid 10.3 % higher than sales in March2012.

The primary culprit, the association said, was a lack ofavailable inventory for sale. The association reported thatits numbers indicated a 4.7-month supply of available homes,significantly under the six-month supply that the association saidwas generally needed in order to have a market properly balancedbetween supply and demand.

“The inventory improvement last month results from a seasonalgain, but conditions continue to broadly favor sellers. We need ahousing supply of over six months to have a generally balancedmarket between home buyers and sellers, but it's unlikely we'll getthere without greater increases in housing construction,” saidLawrence Yun, NAR chief economist.

The NAR reported that the national median existing-home pricefor all housing types was $184,300 in March, which is 11.8% percenthigher than the same month last year. The March increase is thestrongest since November 2005 when it rose 12.9% from a yearearlier, and the last time there were 13 consecutive months ofyear-over-year price increases was from May 2005 to May 2006.

The association also reported that the pace of sales of homesdue to foreclosure or short sales also slipped.

Homes in foreclosureor on shortsale accounted for 21% of March sales, down from 25% inFebruary and 29% in March 2012. The NAR said 13% of March saleswere foreclosures and 8% were short sales.