As home inventory in the Orlando market shrinks, guess what? Yes, sales increase.

In just a year, home listings in the core Orlando market shrank by 20 percent while sales climbed 12 percent, a new report shows.

Those dueling forces helped hoist prices up by $12,000 during the year-long period to reach a median of $217,000 in March, according to Orlando Regional Realtor Association. In one month — from February through March — median prices for the area of mostly Orange and Seminole counties rose by 6 percent, which is double the increase considered normal for an entire year.

“Inventory remains a challenge for buyers, especially in the under-$300,000 range where choices are minimal and prices are being bid higher by multiple offers,” said Bruce Elliott, of Regal R.E. Professionals LLC and the association president.

Lake Nona area real estate broker Paul Michelotti said the environment of multiple offers has sometimes led to challenges getting financing.

“People bid up and go over the list price and then there’s a problem with the appraisal,” he said. “It’s a challenging market from a buyer’s standpoint.”

Buyers have increasingly started moving to larger houses within their existing neighborhood, while some out-of-state buyers have purchased in Lake Nona and other real estate hot spots, Michelotti said.

The March inventory in Orlando was 2.4 months, which is less than half of the six-month supply that is considered a balanced market. The last time the Orlando area had such a short supply of listings was in 2013, when investment groups and institutional buyers descended on Central Florida with cash offers for houses that had been sharply devalued since the housing market began its yearslong decline a decade ago.

Even with years of price growth during the last four years, Orlandoarea prices remain far below their July 2007 peak of $264,436.

In March, members of the association completed 3,437 sales. During the last decade, that level of monthly sales was reached only during the peak-summer buying seasons of 2015 and 2016.

Year-over-year sales peaked the most in Lake County, where they grew 21 percent. Sales in Orange and Osceola counties grew by about 10 percent while Seminole County’s sales increased by 5 percent.