U.S. home prices rose at a steady pace in March, pushed higher by a limited supply of houses for sale, the New York Times reported.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index rose 5 percent in March from 12 months earlier, S&P said Tuesday. Prices increased at the same pace in February.

Home values are rising at a faster rate than incomes, potentially pricing many would-be buyers out of the market. Yet prices aren’t going up as sharply as they did in late 2013 and early last year.

Greater Des Moines real estate agents have told clients the inventory is a bit light this year. The national trend is the same. Higher prices have not yet persuaded enough owners to list their homes for sale, prompting bidding wars in some cities.

The median U.S. home sold in just 39 days in April, according to the National Association of Realtors, compared with 52 in March. The biggest price increases were in San Francisco and Denver, where prices rose 10.3 percent and 10 percent from a year ago, respectively. All 20 cities recorded price gains from the previous year. Cleveland and Washington, D.C., saw the smallest gains, with prices up 1 percent in both cities.

At the current pace of sales, the supply of homes would last just 5.3 months, below the six months that is typical in a balanced market. The number of homes for sale fell 0.9 percent in April from a year earlier, the Realtors group said last week.