Home sales figures for January show a strong rise in activity and prices to start the year.

All major Ohio metros reported Thursday higher home sales in January from the year before. It was the best January for number of homes sold since 2007 in Dayton and Cincinnati, according to realtor groups.

“It’s apparent that people want to take advantage of the ideal conditions that exist in today’s marketplace, with historic low interest rates and favorable pricing,” Thomas Williams, president of Ohio Association of Realtors, said in a statement.

The Dayton Area Board of Realtors said last month 717 home sales closed, a 24 percent boost from sales a year ago of 577 single family homes and condominiums.

The Dayton-aera average price for January was $109,221, up 12 percent from the average January 2012 sales price of $97,607. The median sales price, where half of homes sold for more and half sold for less, was $89,900 last month, up 18 percent.

The Dayton market consists of Montgomery, Greene and Preble counties and parts of Warren County.

The larger Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors said home sales jumped 30 percent throughout the TriState.

Just Butler County sold 284 homes last month, compared to 195 homes sold January 2012, according to the Multiple Listing Service of Greater Cincinnati. The county’s average sales price last month of $126,498 improved 11 percent year-over-year from $113,873 in 2012.

The seven-county region including Clark County saw 305 buyers close deals in January for new homes with an average sales price of $95,594. In January 2012, 253 homes were sold in this region for an average $115,498, according to the state realtors group.

Sales are up despite the fact last year’s winter home buying season experienced warmer weather than normal, encouraging homebuyers to look for properties. Sales that closed in January were put under contract in the months before.

Inventories of homes listed for sale continue to dwindle. A declining supply of homes on the market is an ongoing trend and correlates to a rise in average sales prices, realtors said.

The housing market has been positive for the overall economy, Jeff Korzenik, Fifth Third Bank’s chief investment strategist, told a business crowd in north suburban Cincinnati Thursday morning, speaking at a bank-sponsored economic summit. About 70 percent of U.S. Gross Domestic Product is fueled by consumer spending.