Metro Atlanta’s housing market is picking up as the spring selling season begins.

Home sales climbed 13.8 percent in March, compared with the previous year, according to new 11-county figures from the Atlanta Board of Realtors.

Nearly 4,000 homes were sold in March – a jump of 32.5 percent from February, the Realtors said.

The metro sales price of $218,000 in March represented a solid 8.5 percent increase from March 2014.

The housing market usually heats up in spring, with many potential buyers looking to land a home they can move into before the start of the next school year.