MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican homebuilder Geo posted a higher-than-expected 10.6 percent rise in first- quarter net profit on Friday, as sales jumped due to an increase in houses built and sold.

Geo (GEOB.MX: Quote, Profile, Research) said its January-March net profit was 321 million pesos ($30 million) as revenue rose 21.6 percent to 3.499 billion pesos.

Geo sold 11,291 homes in the quarter, up 24 percent from the 9,119 houses it offloaded in the same period last year.

Core earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, increased 23 percent to 816 million pesos.

Both revenue and EBITDA were also higher than forecasts.

A Reuters survey had forecast Geo's net profit would be 305 million pesos, revenue 3.358 billion pesos and EBITDA 778 million pesos.

Geo shares fell 3.15 percent on Friday to 38.07 pesos before the company released its first quarter results.

($1 = 10.642 pesos at end-March)

(Reporting by Chris Aspin; Editing by Andre Grenon)