Home prices soared again last month in Lee County — led by a frenzy of bargain hunters and investors in Lehigh Acres and Cape Coral.

Meanwhile, U.S. sales of previously owned homes fell less than forecast in February to a 6.79 million annual rate, supported by cheap mortgage rates and growing employment, an industry report showed Wednesday.

In Lee County, the median price of a single-family home sold by a Realtor hit a record $235,200, up 37 percent in a year. The number of homes sold increased 19 percent to 890, the Florida Association of Realtors reported Wednesday. The median is the price at which half the sales are higher and half are lower.

Nowhere was the increase more pronounced than in Lehigh Acres, where Coldwell Banker Preferred Properties general manager Fred Elliott said the skyrocketing price of land was driving the boom.

"Lot prices have increased 20-fold in the last two years," he said, and most quarter-acre lots go for at least $40,000.

The price of a single-family home has risen sharply in the past year in Lee County — 37 percent from $172,000 in February 2004 to $235,200 in February 2005. Nationwide, prices have also risen, although not as fast. Experts are split on whether there's a speculative bubble in real estate prices.

As for houses, only eight are listed for under $150,000 in Lehigh and "they'll probably be sold before the sun goes down. Once they come on the market, they sell."

Although much of the action in lot sales is from investors, single-family homes are generally being bought by people lured by the lowest land prices in Lee County. "If you can only afford to pay $180,000 you can afford to buy here; in other areas it's difficult to find anything for that."

In Cape Coral, Michael Schneider Christians of Century 21 Sunbelt Realty said that for a single-family house, "under $200,000, you can pretty much forget it" — a house with a pool probably will cost $250,000.

A year ago, he said, you could buy a house for $160,000 and one with a pool for $180,000. Lots start at about $60,000 and he warns clients to put in a bid above the asking price to have a chance at making the purchase. The alternative is to lose out and be faced with even higher prices in the future.

But he warned that buyers shouldn't expect prices to go up forever and should be prepared for a dip. "I tell people they should have the cash to sustain for three to five years" if the market hits a slow patch.

He noted that even if prices fell 10 percent, "They'd still be a lot more than a year ago" and about 20 times as much as five years ago.

Elsewhere in Southwest Florida, home prices were up as well. In Charlotte County, the median price was up 28 percent to $188,700 with the number of sales down 9 percent to 260. In Collier County, the price was up 28 percent to $498,400 and sales were up 16 percent to 434. Nationally, existing home sales decreased 0.4 percent last month from a revised 6.82 million-unit rate in January that was higher than initially estimated, the National Association of Realtors said today in Washington. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News expected home resales would fall 1.5 percent to a 6.7 million annual pace. Sales reached a record 6.784 million for all of 2004 and have set records in each of the last four years.

An improving job market will give buyers the income needed to keep sales strong as Federal Reserve policymakers raise borrowing costs and mortgage rates follow, though sales aren't likely to keep rising, according to economists. Central bankers Tuesday raised their target interest rate by a quarter percentage point, the seventh such increase since June.

Sales fell 3.4 percent in the South to a 2.56 million annual rate. They were unchanged in the West at 1.59 million and rose 2 percent in the Midwest to a 1.5 million pace and increased 4.6 percent in the Northeast to a 1.14 million rate. Resales, which account for about 85 percent of the residential real estate market, are tabulated at contract closings so they reflect buying decisions made a month or two earlier. Purchases of new homes are counted when a contract is first signed, making them a better gauge of current activity. The median price of an existing home rose 1.1 percent to $191,000 last month from $189,000 in January, the Realtors' group said. The median price is up 11 percent compared with February 2004.