According to figures released today by Florida Realtors, sales of single family homes in Pinellas shot up 13.8 percent from May 2018. That was biggest year-over-year increase since November 2016, when sales soared nearly 27 percent.

Pinellas also had the biggest price jump in the bay area in May — up 7.1 percent to a median of $271,000.

Sales in Pinellas were even better than for Florida as a whole although statewide figures showed an impressive increase of almost 10 percent.

"May turned out to be our highest single-family home sales' monthly total for any single month over at least the past 10 years," said Brad O'Connor, Florida Realtors chief economist. "This resurgence in single-family home sales is largely being driven by a single factor, which is that mortgage interest rates have been declining sharply since late last year.''

The average interest rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage is 4 percent, down from 4.6 percent a year ago.

Here's how single family homes sales fared in other counties

Hillsborough — sales up 5.1 percent, prices up 3.5 percent to a median of $259,900.

Pasco — sales up less than 1 percent, prices up 4.1 percent to $223,745.

Hernando — sales down 6.3 percent, prices up almost 6 percent to $180,000.

The top price paid for a Tampa Bay home in May was $6.849 million for a penthouse in the Ovation condo tower on Beach Drive in downtown St. Petersburg. That was second highest price ever for a bay area condo, exceeded only by the $6.9 million sale of another Ovation unit three years ago.

READ MORE: In Tampa Bay, penthouses aren't just for those at the top anymore

Among single family homes, a house in Spottis Woode, a gated enclave overlooking Clearwater Harbor, took the top-price honors as it sold for $4.835 million. The seller, entrepreneur Ben Mallah, had paid $3.298 million for it exactly two years earlier. He has since purchased a 39,000-square-foot gulf-front house in Belleair Shore for $16.5 million, the record price for a home in the Tampa Bay area.

READ MORE: Developer Ben Mallah buys former Phillies slugger Ryan Howard's Pinellas home for $16.5 million

In Hillsborough, the priciest transaction was $3.25 million for a newly built house in South Tampa's Beach Park area. The 5,804-square-foot house, which sits on a canal, has five bedrooms and six full baths.

In Pasco, a home on nearly four acres sold in Land O' Lakes for $987,990 while Hernando's priciest sale in May was $725,000 for a house with a wine room that can hold 2,000 bottles.

Statewide, sales of single family homes rose 9.6 percent as prices climbed 4.3 percent to a median of $266,000.

Nationally, sales of existing homes — condos and townhomes as well as single family — fell about 1 percent from a year ago. The median price rose 4.8 percent to $277,700.

By Susan Taylor Martin

Contact Susan Taylor Martin at smartin@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8642. Follow @susanskate.