Orlando: Home sales on the rise.

Home sales, median price on the The Orlando area's existing home inventory continued to build in January, but sales and the median price continued to rise as the market settles into "a very comfortable stride," the Orlando Regional Realtor Association reported today.Sales of existing homes in metro Orlando rose to 2,318 in January, up 6.2 percent from the same month a year ago, the Realtor association said.Reflecting the cooling market is the rising inventory, though, as the 12,015 existing homes for sale in January in the core Orlando area was nearly four times greater than in January 2005.The median price rose to $242,050, a 25.4 percent increase from a year earlier, but less than 1 percent higher than in December, a flattening of prices that began in late 2005.Association President Beverly Pindling said in a statement that the surge in homes for sale is partly the result of sellers looking to take advantage of the recent rise in prices, and the fact that more sellers are turning to Realtors to list their homes.