Cities within the Austin-Round Rock Metropolitan Statistical Area, including the cities of Cedar Park and Leander, saw single-family home sales growth in the first month of 2018 despite limited amounts of inventory, according to a January report released by the Austin Board of Realtors last week. According to the January 2018 Central Texas Housing Market Report, median home prices throughout the region continue to increase as inventory remains tight. In the Austin-Round Rock MSA, the median price of single-family homes increased by 3.6 percent year-over-year in January to $290,000. Home sales increased by 8.5 percent to 1,655, signaling a strong housing market for this year, according to the report. Single-family home sales in Cedar Park fell by 1.6 percent since last January, though the median price of single-family homes rose by 10.7 percent to $291,1750 in Cedar Park. In Leander, the number of homes sold rose by 15.2 percent year-over-year and the median price rose by 1.9 percent to $290.000. Jim Gaines, a chief economic with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, said the housing market in Central Texas will continue to see an increase in the number of sales and in prices in 2018. “The housing demand and lack of inventory is so great, that if supply does not increase, we could see an upwards of 5 percent growth in median home prices within the Austin-Round Rock MSA,” Gaines said in a press release. “Inventory will be a determining factor in the direction of this year’s market.”