Home buyers and sellers in the Twin Cities metro helped make March a positive month for the local housing industry. The Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS® (MAAR), using data from the Regional Multiple Listing Service of Minnesota, Inc. (RMLS), shows a number of increases in industry ranking categories.

The number of new listings, pending sales and closed sales all experienced positive gains from February to March. New listings increased 39% last month from 7,165 to 9,991. From a year-over-year perspective, new listings were up 27%. Pending sales saw a 43% increase, rising from 3,527 in February to 5,051 in March; a 14% increase from March of 2009. And closed sales, sitting at 2,157 in February, jumped 52% to 3,269 sales in March, making it the third consecutive month-over-month increase for pending sales.

I wonder what will happen when the tax credit expires on April 30