Home sales rose sharply again in Marin last month as the median price for a single-family home inched up compared with last year, a real-estate tracking firm reported Thursday.

In Marin, 187 single-family homes were sold last month, up from 130 in April 2009 - a 43.8 percent rise, according to figures released by MDA DataQuick of San Diego. Single-family home sales last month also were up from 172 in March, 116 in February and 113 in January. Fifty-five condos sold in April, up from 43 the year before. The median price of $800,000 for a single-family home in April marked a 7.6 percent rise from $743,500 one year earlier. The median price in March was $725,250. The median for a condo was $350,000, down 2 percent from $357,000 in April 2009.

Single-family home median prices in Marin have been rising all year. The January median was $640,000 and February's median price was $694,500, according to DataQuick.

"I think the year-on-year jump, it looks pretty good. A year ago we were really in the tank," said Jack McLaughlin, a broker with Frank Howard Allen in Greenbrae. "This year it certainly shows we're a lot healthier than we were a year ago. It's a large gain but largely it's because we were so low last year." Regionally, home sales fell slightly below the year-ago level and remained well below average last month. Last month a total of 7,003 homes closed escrow in the nine-county Bay Area, up slightly from 6,992 in March but down from 7,139 in April 2009. The median price of $400,000 for a single-family home in the Bay Area was up 30 percent from $307,434 in April 2009. In Marin, improvement in the luxury market is playing a role, brokers and analysts said.

"Higher-end homes are just selling better than a year ago. In some cases you have more motivated sellers, which means buyers are more interested," said Andrew LePage, DataQuick analyst. A total of 65 homes sold for more than $1 million in April, up nearly 63 percent from March and 76 percent from April 2009, according to figures complied by Coldwell Banker based on Multiple Listing Service data of all homes sold in Marin for more than $1 million last month.

In Southern Marin, 25 percent of the $2 million-and-above listings were in escrow in April, up from 18 percent a year ago. Mill Valley had the most million-dollar sales in April with 17, followed by San Rafael and Tiburon with 10 each and Kentfield and Larkspur with six each, according to the Coldwell Banker report. On average, it took 90 days to sell a million-dollar home in Marin, down from 101 days the previous month and 100 days a year ago, according to the real-estate company.

"I think the sellers are just becoming more realistic and they are pricing appropriately and the buyers are responding to that," said Kevin Patsel, branch manager of Central Marin Coldwell Banker in Greenbrae. "We're seeing a lot of competition out there for the same properties. There are buyers out there, they've been looking for a long time, they see what they want and they pounce on it."

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