New Brunswick is once again seeing growing demand in the real estate market, according to the province’s real estate board.

The New Brunswick Real Estate Board reported 567 homes sold in February, a year-over-year increase of 9.5 per cent.

Saint John saw the biggest increase at 21 per cent, followed by Fredericton at nearly 17 per cent and Moncton at nearly four per cent. Sales activity was unchanged in the Northern and Valley Region.

Mike Power, chair of the province’s real estate board, said new listings and overall inventory were also up in February, in addition to sales.

But Power noted that active listings were still considerably below what would be expected for this time of year.

“The below-average number of available homes combined with growing demand is starting to put upward pressure once again on prices,” Power said in a news release.

The benchmark price for single-family homes was $287,400, up nearly seven per cent on a year-over-year basis in February.

As for new listings, there were 869 new homes added to the market last month. While that was up 23 per cent compared to last February, it was nearly six per cent below the 10-year average.

Active residential listings numbered 2,198 units on the market at the end of February, which was more than 47 per cent lower than the long-term average for this time of year.

“Market conditions continue to favour sellers and with the spring market on the horizon we expect the next couple of months to be very interesting,” said Power.