Its Not all Doom and Gloom

Found this article and thought I would share. On average, still 50 homes a day are closing in the Cincinnati area!

Home sales inching up:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Sales of existing homes recorded modest gains in January, the third straight month of month-over-month increases.

According to the National Association of Realtors, homes sold at an annual rate of 5.36 million in January, up 2.7% from December and 5.3% higher than January 2010 sales. At the same time, the median home price fell 3% to $158,000, compared to a year earlier.

It was the first time in seven months that the monthly sales total was higher than the year before.

"The up trend in home sales is consistent with improvements in the economy and jobs," said Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist.

The report was slightly stronger than expected. A consensus of experts surveyed by Briefing.com had expected sales to hit 5.23 million.

Yun pointed out that home sales have benefited from unusually favorable conditions: Mortgage rates are still very low; there's a large supply of homes to choose from; and home prices have fallen to near post-housing bust lows.

One factor holding buyers back is the still tight mortgage lending.

"Buyers have been constrained by unnecessarily tight credit," said Yun. "As a result, there are abnormally high levels of all-cash purchases, along with rising investor activity."