Even though house prices might be high, it isn’t stopping people from owning a home in the Okanagan, or the rest of Canada.

According to statistics released Friday by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), national home sales are up for the third month in a row, and broke all previous monthly records in March.

Sales in March were up from the previous month in about 60 per cent of markets, including Victoria and the Okanagan, according to the report.

Overall, national home sales rose by 1.5 per cent from February to March.

In the past year, activity has gone up by 12.2 per cent.

It may be a little surprising that March did so well, as the month leading up to the increase, fewer houses went up for sale, and the MLS Home Price Index (HPI) has risen by 9.1 per cent in the past year.

The national average sale price also rose by almost 16 per cent in the past year, and in Greater Vancouver it climbed over 10 per cent.

Photo Credit: KelownaNow.

Sales were actually lower in Greater Vancouver, but remain near the record high reached in February.

Two-storey single family home prices posted the biggest year-over-year gain  at over 10 per cent, followed by townhouses at almost 9 per cent, one-storey single family homes at 8 per cent and apartment units at 7 per cent.

Sales prices in Greater Vancouver increased by 23.2 per cent, the highest in the country.