Privately owned housing starts jumped 19.4% from February’s revised estimate to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,739,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Forty-three percent of respondents to the first-quarter Zillow Home Price Expectations survey expect inventory to improve in the second half of the year, followed by 26% who expect it in the first half of 2022.

Boston homes listed on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday are selling for more than those listed on the weekend, but how much varies by metro area.

The housing supply shortage is expected to get more extreme as homebuyer demand continues to outweigh inventory levels, a new study found.

Boston’s Suffolk County was among the 14% of counties where wage growth outpaced home-price appreciation.

Prices in the Boston metro area were up 7.0% over February 2020 with “normal” market condition indicators.

Home prices posted monthly and yearly gains in January across the U.S. as well, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices.

“The demand for a home purchase is widespread, multiple offers are prevalent, and days-on-market are swift, but contracts are not clicking due to record-low inventory.” — NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun

While pandemic headlines had many leaving cities and moving to the suburbs or looking for additional space in their current home, interest in tiny homes was little remarked upon.

A record number of homes sold above the asking price last month as home sale prices hit an all-time high.

Cape Cod home sales continued to rise in February as interest in homes in vacation areas remained strong.

Single-family home sales and median sales prices continued to rise as inventory hit record lows once again.

Much of the year-over-year increase in home sales was supported by continued robust activity in the Southeast, which saw a 20.2% rise to an annual rate of 458,000 transactions.

“Despite the drop in home sales for February — which I would attribute to historically-low inventory — the market is still outperforming pre-pandemic levels.” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun

In February, 36% of homes sold above the asking price as the decline in homes for sale hit a record low.

The Greater Boston Association of Realtors says the numbers offer an early sign of an extremely active spring local housing market.