February was a month of “more” for Maine’s real estate market — more homes listed, more time on the market and more sales for more money.

Maine homebuyers paid a median of $381,500 in February, a 9% increase over the same time last year, according to data released Thursday by the Maine Association of Realtors. The median is the price at which half of the homes sold for more and half sold for less.

Meanwhile, 753 houses changed hands — a 6.5% increase over February 2024 but a decrease from the prior month.

January, February and March are consistently the state’s quietest months for home buying and selling.

Maine’s ongoing inventory squeeze continues to show signs of improvement, with a 14% increase in homes hitting the market, said Jeff Harris, president of the Maine Association of Realtors.

“We’re seeing an increased number of homes on the market statewide, mortgage rates have ticked downward, and in some markets, price growth has moderated, increasing the purchasing power of buyers,” said Harris, a broker affiliated with Harris Real Estate in Farmington.

Homes stayed on the market for an average of 40 days in February. That’s the longest period in at least three years. In the warmer months, homes were selling in less than a week.

Harris added that the upcoming spring market shows promise for both sellers and buyers.

Nationally, home prices increased just shy of 4% to a median of $402,500, while sales dipped 0.3%, ending a four-month streak of increases.

Trends in the Northeast more closely resembled those in Maine, with a 4% increase in sales and a 10% increase in prices, with a median of $464,300.

Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the national association, said that while sales were down from the year before when adjusting for the additional day of data from the leap year, plus the winter slowdown, the “momentum for home sales is flashing encouraging signs.”

“Homebuyers are slowly entering the market,” Yun said. “Mortgage rates have not changed much, but more inventory and choices are releasing pent-up housing demand.”

Mortgage rates have stayed below 7% for more than two months, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac. The average rate on a 30-year mortgage was 6.67% as of Thursday.

The Maine Association of Realtors also looks at three months of data in county-by-county comparisons to get a larger sample size of sale transactions.

The median price increased just shy of 12% to $393,000 between Dec. 1 and Feb. 28 compared to almost the same three-month span the year before. February 2024 was a leap year, so there is one additional day of data. Sales also increased by just over 12%.

Cumberland County held its spot as Maine’s most expensive county with a median sale price of $565,000. York County was the second-most expensive, with a median sale price of $500,000.

Hancock County saw the largest overall price increase, with a nearly 18% jump from $375,000 to $442,000.

With a median sale price of $152,000, Aroostook County remained the least expensive county in the state.

The only two other counties with a median price below $200,000 were also the only two to see price drops. Sale prices decreased by 0.81% to $183,500 in Piscataquis County and by more than 6% to $194,500 in Somerset County. The sale price in Knox County remained flat at $440,000.

Sales numbers were less stable statewide, with six counties reporting decreases and 10 reporting increases.

Waldo County jumped from 62 sales between December and the end of February last year to 95 over the same period this year, a more than 53% increase.

Somerset County, which saw the largest price decrease, was also the county with the steepest drop in sales — a roughly 19% decline from 109 to 88.