NAR

The energy bust continues to seem ever more distant, especially in the local housing market where home sales and prices have been rising month after month.

Contracts to buy previously owned homes jumped in February by the most since July 2010.

Purchases of new homes increased in February to a seven-month high, indicating the effects of the recent rise in borrowing costs on the residential real estate market have been modest.

Sales of previously owned homes declined in February after rising a month earlier to the highest level in a decade, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Homes for sale listings are scarcer than they've ever been entering the spring selling season.

Slim pickings put a lid on home sales in the Twin Cities metro last month, the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors said.