Two months into the year doesn’t paint a very clear picture of what we can expect from 2017’s real estate market, but let’s take a look and see what hints it offers.

The statewide median sale price for a single-family home in February was $319,000, up nearly 7 percent over February 2016’s $299,000. Not to be outdone, the median price for a condo rose 8 percent year over year for the month, to $297,700, thought that’s down significantly from January of this year, when the median price was $329,000. Number of sales usually drop from January to February in any given year.

The number of sales in both categories dropped year over year in February. It was down 8.5 percent for single-families, from 2,884 in 2016 to 2,639 this year; for condos, down just over 2 percent, from 1,153 to 1,128. All figures are per The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman.

So there are the facts, but what do they tell us? Well, Realtors have been bemoaning the lack of inventory for months, so the drop in number of sales is perhaps to be expected. And of course, Economic 101 tells us that as supplies drop, prices rise. We can’t blame the weather this time; February this year was seasonal and not overly snowy.

For the year to date, however, the single-family median price is up 7 percent; condo median price is up 11 percent; number of condo sales is up 4 percent and number of single-family sales is down less than 1 percent. The difference between the number of single-family homes sold in the first two months of 2016 versus the first two months of 2017: 54. In the entire state.

That’s a pretty good start to the year, and it’s only just begun. Spring is theoretically upon us and the market will warm this month and in the months to come, no matter what the weather decides to do. While mid-last week’s forecast called for another winter storm, by the time this issue went to press the snow had been downgraded to a wintery mix; inconvenient and unpleasant, but not crippling. All indications point to a quick melt of any accumulation and barely a hitch for house-hunters.

So it looks like more of the same in the Greater Boston real estate market. Much depends on how many residents can be persuaded to list their houses this year, and how far buyers will be willing to stretch to purchase what inventory is available. Mortgage rates have hopped around in the past month but are holding steady above 4 percent and are expected to rise. That may push some buyers out of the fight – but not enough to ease demand.

Readers, we value your expertise and we welcome your crystal-ball gazing talents. Send us an email at editorial@thewarrengroup.com with your predictions for the 2017 spring market; we’ll run them in a future issue of Banker & Tradesman.