After 22 months of increasing sales in the housing market, the sale of single-family homes and condominiums in Massachusetts plunged in March from a lack of inventory, leaving many pre-approved buyers waiting to purchase homes, according to data released by the Massachusetts Association of Realtors Tuesday.

“We’ve got low interest rates, pre-approved buyers with jobs, savings and good credit that are ready to buy, and an increase in the cost of rentals, but the number of homes is still shrinking,” said Kimberly Allard-Moccia, MAR president.

Massachusetts saw a 1.8 percent downtick in the inventory of single-family homes from 29.8 percent to 28 percent with 28,159 listings in 2012 and 19,761 listings in 2013, according to a Tuesday press release.

Although many buyers are interested in single-family homes, Allard-Moccia said there is not enough inventory for the demand.

“We find now that the lack of inventory is what’s causing that pace to discontinue, not that buyers do not have interest,” she said.

Condominium inventory decreased 34 percent since 2012 with only 6,543 listings this year compared to last year’s 9,908 listings, according to the release.

As the amount of single-family home inventory decreased, the number of homes sold also decreased, according to the release. In March, 3,011 single-family homes were sold, a 3.3 percent decrease from the 3,113 homes sold in March 2012.

David Harris, editorial director at The Warren Group, said in the current housing market, it is better to be a seller than a buyer.

“As demand increases and the supply remains tight, prices will inevitably increase,” Harris said. “And when prices continue to increase, people opt out of the market if they can’t afford a property.”

The median price for single-family homes sold in March rose 7.8 percent from $269,000 in 2012 to $290,000 in 2013, according to a Tuesday press release from The Warren Group.

“Right now we are seeing bidding wars start over condos especially, but also homes,” he said. “[There are] a lot of people competing for a very limited number of properties, and we’re hearing stories about home owners selling their properties for a lot more than they would expect.”

For a healthy market recovery, Allard-Moccia said more housing inventory must be made available at every price range.

“While an increase in prices should entice sellers, it has yet to happen,” she said. “We need buyers to move up and down the housing ladder, but right now they’re either stuck on the rungs or it’s too difficult to grab on to.”

Kalyani Krishnan, 47, resident of Acton, said she was surprised by the lack of inventory in Massachusetts, but she recognizes that communities in the northeast have always attracted home owners.

“I don’t know why there isn’t adequate housing,” she said. “I did hear that people are outbidding each other, [which is] driving up the cost of existing houses, but that has always been the case because there are certain communities that people want to live in because of better school systems.”

Krishnan said she has not had any issues purchasing or selling on the housing market.

“I live in a home that we bought seven years ago, and, where I live in my town, I don’t know anyone that has been looking for a house and has not been able to find one,” she said. “My understanding of housing market is that it has always been a local issue.”