By Mary Ellen Podmolik | Tribune reporter

In the past few weeks, agents say an undeniable scent of sales is in the air, and data released Thursday gave credibility to their talk.

March sales of previously owned single-family homes and condominiums in Illinois posted their second consecutive month-over-month gain, and for the first time since June, the statewide median price for a home rose from the prior month.
Suburban counties seeing among the largest month-over-month sales increases were Lake County, 65 percent; Kendall County, 51 percent; and Cook County, 38 percent.

Realty agents are taking pains to not get too giddy. After all, that 38 percent one-month gain in sales in Cook County translated to 2,409 properties sold. In March 2008, 3,432 homes sold in Cook County.