MADISON, WI (WTAQ) - Wisconsin home sales continued to be strong last month.

The state’s Realtors Association said Monday that almost 3,450 existing houses were sold by Realtors in January. That’s over 500 more sales than in January of 2012, for a year-to-year increase of 18.3 percent.

The median resale price for the month was $123,000, up 3.4 percent from last year’s average of $119,000.

For 2012 as a whole, the average resale price jumped above $133,000.

But Renny Diedrich, who chairs the Realtors’ board of directors, said January normally has the fewest home sales of any month of the year.

The first month only accounts for about 5 percent of total home sales in a typical year – and Diedrich said the strong January sales bodes well for the spring, when the housing market begins to heat up.

Home sales were up in all parts of the state last month.