WATERLOO REGION – Waterloo Region’s housing market entered the busy spring season on an upswing.

The real estate associations in Kitchener and Waterloo, and Cambridge both reported higher sales last month.

Agents with the Kitchener-Waterloo Association of Realtors sold 660 homes in March, up from 611 in the same month a year ago.

The Cambridge Association of Realtors recorded 290 sales, up from 279 a year ago.

Sara Hill, president of the Kitchener-Waterloo association, described the market as solid.

“Sales activity was higher than average for March, and while some of this might be attributable to the spring like weather, I think it really speaks to the confidence consumers have in our local economy and homeownership as a sound investment and lifestyle choice,” she said Wednesday in a news release.

The average sale price in Kitchener and Waterloo increased 3.9 per cent to $310,631 compared to a year ago.

The average price in Cambridge increased 4.7 per cent to $302,867.

Sales in the first three months of the year are ahead of last year’s pace in both markets.

There were 1,502 house sales in the Kitchener and Waterloo area in the first quarter, up 1.1 per cent from the same period last year.

First quarter sales in Cambridge totaled 711, up 1.8 per cent from last year’s levels