After a slow start to the year, the local housing market heated up quickly in March, with sales volume and prices climbing significantly from the same month a year earlier, a new industry report shows.

Cayuga County's robust residential real estate market also surged from the previous, as the traditional spring selling season kicked into gear during March.

Cayuga County single-family house sales more than doubled in volume, jumping from 23 sales reported in March 2004 to 49 during that month this year. The figures were reported last week by the New York State Association of Realtors.

While the growth in median sales price for a home sold in Cayuga County was not as pronounced, it still climbed nearly 20 percent from year to year. The March median price - the point at which half of all sales fall above or below - reached $80,103. Unlike average prices, median prices mitigate the impact an extremely high or low single sale can have.

Cayuga County's strong housing market outperformed the state as a whole. The Realtors association reported a slight decline - 1.3 percent - in home sales volume from March 2004 to March 2005.

Median prices statewide did grow faster in March than the Cayuga County market. The state's median price - $278,050 - was 26.4 percent higher compared with a year earlier.