The housing market in Southern Florida has vastly improved and harried buyers are frustrated at the shortage of inventory.

Foreclosure related sales make up about a quarter of the residential transactions in Broward County and Palm Beach County according to RealtyTrac Inc., an Irvine California based listing firm. However, the number of foreclosure related sales by banks are lower than last year, as banks anticipate rising prices.

Here are some key figures according to RealtyTrac:

• From January through March there were 3,157 foreclosure-related sales in Broward County, thus up 3 percent. In Palm Beach County, there were 2,704 foreclosure-related sales, down 13 percent from a year earlier.
• During the first quarter the average prices of foreclosed homes rose. In Broward County the average was $139,988, an increase of 14 percent from the past year, and in Palm Beach County, it was $136,196, up 21 percent.
• In March 2013, home sales increased 25 percent in comparison to the previous month.

Lenders have less incentive to approve short sales as a result. Therefore, the number of short sales that banks have been approving is down.

As the Sun Sentinel discusses, banks are now delaying the sales of foreclosed homes, hoping that the prices will rise. Moreover, banks are no longer getting pressure from federal regulators to sell their stock of foreclosed homes.

With rising prices, underwater homeowners are now willing to continue paying their mortgages in hopes that the market value of their homes will rise at a fast pace so the value of their homes will eventually exceed their mortgage balances.