More SCV homeowners are listing their property for sale as home values rise, but relatively few homes are changing hands as sellers hold out for even higher prices.

That’s the word from the Southland Regional Association of Realtors, which issued the February home-sales data Wednesday.

February saw the price of the typical single-family home in the SCV rise to $439,500, up from $432,900 in January and an improvement of $60,500 over last February’s $379,000. The figure was just shy of the post-recession high of $450,000 set in August, when temperatures and home sales tend to heat up.

Meanwhile, the typical previously owned condominium changed hands in February for $276,000, up markedly from January’s median price of $250,000 and the Feburary 2013 figure of $220,000. Condos hit $300,000 last July and $295,000 in both August and November.

The downside for commission Realtors was the lack of movement. Just 119 single-family homes in the SCV closed escrow in February, versus 138 in January and 153 one year earlier. Sixty condos closed escrow, compared to 65 in January and 69 in February 2013.

Nancy Starczyk, president of the association’s SCV division, said she was unconcerned about February’s slowness, in part because the demand is out there and because the number of active listings at the end of February was way up.

The 542 active SCV listings on SRAR’s Multiple Listing Service represented a 71-percent increase over last February. It’s still just a 3-month supply of homes in a market where a 6-month supply is preferred, but it’s a whole lot better than it’s been the last couple of years when a 1- or 2-month supply was common.

“A rising inventory brings us closer to a normal market,” Starczyk said in a statement. “Buyers’ ability to accept the new realities and sellers’ willingness to price appropriately will decide how much the market picks up this Spring.”

“It’s going to take a while for everyone to adjust,” said association CEO Jim Link, noting that the rash of recession-period foreclosures and short sales has run its course. “I’m very optimistic that we’ll have a good market this Spring and for the rest of the year, with healthy sales totals and ongoing price increases, but at a much more measured pace.”