More homes were sold last month -- and for more money on average -- than a year earlier in the Baltimore metro area.

About 1,100 homes changed hands in January, up almost 9 percent from the previous year, according to numbers released Wednesday by Metropolitan Regional Information Systems. The average sale price was about $272,000, an increase of just over 2 percent.

But it's not a sign that the days of home sellers lowering their asking prices are over. In January, average buyers got homes for about 10 percent less than the listing prices.

Sales rose in every part of the Baltimore region except Harford County, which recorded a 1 percent decline. Prices were up on average everywhere except the city, which had a drop of 18 percent.