Dive Brief:

• Worries that the Boston housing market would lag after the city got more than 100 inches of snow this winter melted this week as the Greater Boston Association of Realtors reported that buyer demand in February reached historic highs.

• At the same time, the city’s home-improvement contractors have been inundated with requests from homeowners needing roof and other weather-related repairs or who want to get started on remodeling projects that they delayed because of bad winter weather, The Boston Globe reported.

• Bostonians closed on 5% more single-family homes in February than they did in February 2014, ringing up the second-highest February sales in eight years, the association said.

Dive Insight:

The city’s sales surge lags behind a 25% national spike in year-over-year sales in February. But its lack of enough homes for sale to meet demand mirrors national norms. GBAR President David McCarthy said the weather ranked second to a lack of listings over the past few months when it came to hindering sales. The number of single-family homes for sale in Boston slid to their lowest level in 12 years last month—the 36th straight month of declining inventory.