Government efforts to stabilize the housing market are slowly paying off as prices of residential properties in almost 60% of U.S. cities surged in the first quarter of the year.

The National Association of Realtors, or NAR, reported that the median sales price for previously occupied homes in 91 out of 152 metropolitan areas jumped in the first three months of 2010 from the first quarter of 2009, when prices rose in about 40% of cities. Data also showed that 29 cities registered double-digit price increases. Sales of existing residential properties also rose in March after a three-month decline.

The largest price increase was recorded in Saginaw, Michigan, where the median home price doubled to almost $61,000. Home prices in Akron, Ohio, surged 95% to around $95,000, while prices in Cleveland jumped by 54% to $106,400.

The Chicago-based NAR attributed the “sharp” improvement to the federal tax credit program launched by the Obama administration. According to the association, the tax credits — $8,000 for new buyers and $6,500 for existing homeowners — generated about one million additional home sales and helped reduce the number of unsold residential real estate.

“Without that tax credit, if we had an additional million unsold homes on the market, the inventory would be so out of whack that we would be seeing prices continuing to decline and we might still be in recession,” NAR spokesman Walter Molony said.

As of late March, about 2.2 million households had availed themselves of the first-time home buyer tax credit program, data from the Internal Revenue Service showed. With the April 30 expiration of the program, however, many experts believe that the price increase is likely to slow down in the coming months.

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