Sales of existing homes in Florida increased 2 percent last month with a total of 17,192 homes sold statewide, compared with 16,781 homes sold in April 2010, according to Florida Realtors. Statewide sales of existing condos last month rose 17 percent compared with a year ago.

Florida's median sales price for existing homes last month was $131,700, compared with $140,300 a year ago, the result of continued foreclosure sales. At the same time, April's statewide existing-home median price was 4.3 percent higher than in March.

In the Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater area, single-family, existing-home sales fell 5 percent and the median sales price fell 11 percent to $121,400.

Year to date, the figures looked better, with sales up 10 percent, and the median sales price down 6 percent to $125,700. The volume of sales of Tampa Bay-area condos grew 4 percent, and the price fell 28 percent to $102,700. The year-to-date price drop was 13 percent.

"Existing-home sales have risen in six of the past eight months, so we're clearly on a recovery path," said National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. "With rising jobs and excellent affordability conditions, we project moderate improvements into 2012, but not every month will show a gain - primarily because some buyers are finding it too difficult to obtain a mortgage."