In Metro Orlando’s

hot housing market, the ever-rising prices certainly haven’t hindered sales.

Orlando’s housing market ended its strongest sales season of the year with median prices rising 2 percent from a month earlier, according to a new report, and sales up 4.8 percent in August.

The effects of Hurricane Irma, which shuttered the Orlando Regional Realtor Association headquarters all last week, have yet to be determined. The association’s office on Lee Road near Maitland was damaged and lacked power for the week.

Before Irma, the Orlando area’s housing market showed prices strengthening in August when the median sales price was $225,000, which was up 9.8 percent for the year and 2 percent for the month, the association reported.

Rising prices didn’t seem to hinder sales, which reached 3,544 in August and were up 2.7 percent from a year earlier and 4.8 percent from a month earlier.

“Buyer interest has held up strongly this summer and homes are selling fast, but inventory continues to dampen sales,” says ORRA President Bruce Elliott, a broker associate with Regal R.E. Professionals LLC. Buyers are struggling to find suitable homes that fit their budgets, especially in the lower price ranges, he added.

Even though competition for houses usually declines in the fall, “buyers shouldn’t expect big discounts in asking price. And they still need to be able to make a decision and put in a solid offer in a timely fashion,” Elliott said.

For five consecutive months, the supply of listings has been less than three months. That’s considered half the supply needed to fuel a market normally. The number of houses listed for sale dropped 13 percent over the last year and condo listings were down 27 percent.

One reason that the lopsided housing market has been favoring sellers is that the four-county Orlando area grew by an additional 40,000 jobs during the last year. That surge came at a time when builders had added relatively little new housing stock because mortgages and construction loans have been tighter coming out of the recession.

Even though buyers faced greater competition, they were able to better leverage their income because mortgage interest rates dropped to 3.92 percent from 4.01 percent a month earlier.

Even though competition for houses usually declines in the fall, “buyers shouldn’t expect big discounts in asking price,” ORRA President Bruce Elliott said.