Maine home prices continued to rise in March while the number of homes sold continued to decline, according to statistics compiled by a real estate organization.

Maine Listings said the number of March home sales fell from 1,313 units a year ago to 1,031 this year, a decline of nearly 21.5 percent. The median sales price in the state rose from $268,500 last year to $325,000 in March of this year, an increase of 21 percent. Median means half the homes sold for more than that amount and half sold for less.

Market analysts said the tight supply of homes on the market is behind declining sales as well as the rising prices.

The median number of days a home was on the market was nine in March, said Madeleine Hill, president of the Maine Association of Realtors. In March 2021, the median days on the market was 11, and it was 70 days in March 2019, before the pandemic hit and upended the real estate market.

However, Hill said, there was a 5 percent increase in the number of homes for sale in March compared to February. The second quarter is the time when, traditionally, more homes are put up for sale and if this year follows that pattern, Hill said, it may help ease pent-up demand and balance the market.

Nationally, home sales declined 3.3 percent in March compared to a year earlier, while the median sales price rose 15.2 percent to $382,000. In the Northeast, the number of sales fell nearly 12 percent compared to March 2021 and the regional median sales price rose 6.8 percent to $390,200.