http://www.tennessean.com/story/money/homes/2016/03/07/warmer-weather-lifts-nashville-home-sales-decade-long-record/81440048/

Several days of unseasonably warm weather helped to fuel a 9.7 percent year-over-year increase in Nashville area residential closings last month.

The roughly 2,293 home closings for February was the strongest showing for that month in nearly a decade, according to the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors.

"Usually when the weather breaks, folks are more apt to go outside and look at houses," said Denise Creswell, the trade group's president. "That makes a big difference."

Creswell also cited growing consumer confidence, a slight increase in inventory from January and a healthy economy among other contributors to a solid February month for local home sales.

At the end of February, the inventory consisted of 11,677 properties, down 6 percent from a year ago. They were, however, up from 11,352 the end of January.

Creswell expects more listings heading into the spring selling season.

The median Nashville area residential price for a single-family home, meanwhile, rose 14 percent to $235,000 for February. That median price was down from $242,668 in January, but Creswell cautioned against reading anything significant into the month-over-month decline.

"We really don't anticipate that to be indicative of home prices going down," she said.

For condos, the median price was $174,380 for February, up nearly 7 percent from a year ago.

There were 2,735 sales pending at the end of last month, up 11 percent from a year ago. "It's likely to indicate that we'll have another strong month in March," said Richard Exton, an appraiser with Manier and Exton.

Meanwhile, Williamson County home sales rose roughly 9.8 percent for February. The median price for a single-family residence was $396,970, down 1.4 percent from a year ago, according to the Williamson County Association of Realtors.

Reach Getahn Ward at 615-726-5968 and on Twitter @getahn.