The tight inventory afflicting local real estate markets may be loosening somewhat, with new listings increasing for the second straight month in March according to a new report from the Massachusetts Association of REALTORs (MAR).

"While the market still needs more homes for sale – including both existing homes and new construction – the increase in new listings in March is a good sign," 2014 MAR President Peter Ruffini, regional vice president at Jack Conway & Co., said in a statement. "With home values on an upward trend, it gives homeowners the opportunity and incentive to take advantage of the current buyer demand and list their homes for sale."

Despite robust buyer demand, tight inventory is impacting sales. Overall sales declined during the month, with single-family sales dropping 7.8 percent in March according to data released today by The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman, while median prices rose 8.6 percent. Typically, March sales increase substantially over February sales as the spring home market gets underway.

According to MAR, the inventory of single-family homes as of March 31 2014 decreased 13.9 percent from March 2013 (16,691 listings in 2014 from 19,695 listings in 2013), which translates into 4 months of supply in March 2014. This is down from 5 months of supply last year and flat from this past February. This was the 25th straight month of inventory decreases.

However, the number of new listings added to the market of single-family homes in March increased 12 percent over the same time last year (7,110 new listings in 2014 from 6,347 in 2013).

The inventory of condominiums on the market in March was also down compared with the year before, dropping 23.7 percent (4,733 listings in 2014 from 6,206 listings in 2013).  That amounts to 2.7 months of supply, down from 4.0 months in March 2013 and 2.8 months in February.

The number of new listings added to the condominium market in March dipped slightly, dropping 0.8 percent from March 2013 (2,651 new listings in 2014 from 2,672 listings in 2013).

Detached single-family homes stayed on the market an average of 122 days in March 2014 compared with an average of 140 days in March 2013. Condos stayed on the market an average of 85 days, down from an average of 106 days in March 2013. On a month-to-month basis, days on market for single-family homes was up from 121 days in February while condos were down from 98 days.