Aspen’s retail industry fared much better in March than local real estate, at least compared with the same month last year.

Despite predictions earlier this year for a gloomy March, sales tax collections were up 6.7 percent over the same month last year, according to a memo from city of Aspen finance director Don Taylor. Lodging tax collections were up 13.2 percent for March.

Year to date, sales tax collections are up 13.8 percent from 2007.

In Snowmass, sales tax collections were up 2.7 percent in March, and 6.6 percent year to date.

In the same month, dollar volume from real estate transactions in Pitkin County dropped more than 68 percent over March 2007, and 53 percent year to date, according to a report released by Land Title Guarantee Company last month.

The sharp drop in real estate sales was reflected in the city of Aspen’s real estate transfer tax collections. Year-to-date transfer tax collections, which fund employee housing and the Wheeler Opera House, are 33 percent behind collections for the same period in 2007, and 11 percent behind budget, according to Taylor’s report. Taylor also mentioned that the RETT is down from the “stellar” years of 2006 and 2005, but up substantially from 2004 (25 percent) and 2003 (71 percent).

“These trends appear to be due to an exceptionally high rate of real estate sales in the years 2005 through 2006 in Aspen and the local as well as national decline in real estate sales in 2007 through the current period,” he wrote.

March retail sales topped $67.3 million, which is a 7 percent increase from the same month in 2007. Year-to-date retail sales are up 11 percent, Taylor reported, and most sectors — particularly tourist accommodations — saw healthy increases this winter.

Sales tax collections from Snowmass hotels and other lodging properties were up 3.2 percent in March, while restaurants were down 2.6 percent.