OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says more than half of the local markets it tracks saw stronger sales activity last month compared with February.

Nationally, there was a 2.4 per cent increase in the number of houses and condos sold through CREA members in March compared with the previous month on a seasonally adjusted basis.

However, the actual number of sales in March was down 15.3 per cent from the same month last year — continuing a trend that began last summer.

CREA says there were 39,527 residential properties sold through the Multiple Listing Service in March, compared with 46,669 a year earlier.

The national average price for homes sold through CREA members rose 2.5 per cent from a year earlier to $378,532, although prices varied widely by region.

A house price index that CREA compiles was up 1.02 percentage points from February and 2.2 points from March of 2012.