I watched the Superbowl yesterday.  As much as I enjoyed the game, I enjoyed the commercials as well. My favorite was that one with Clint Eastwood, talking about the economic recovery of America, Detroit in particular.  He spoke of American auto manufacturers in Detroit who are producing once again. I know their housing market is better, too. According to the Housing Predictor, "Prices have gotten so low in parts of Michigan that investors swooped in for bargains. Home sales have climbed for months, indicating that at least things aren’t headed south anymore. And the prices on some homes are actually rising. That’s right—going up!"

Locally, we have definitely seen signs of recovery in the housing market.  While we were fortunate not to suffer nearly as bad as Detroit, we did see some dips in home sales and values over the past 3-4 years.  But things are starting to shift now.  Last month in January we saw single family home sales up by 3%, compared to last year at this time.  Condos and townhomes are up even more, by 8.6%.   There is less standing inventory (homes for sale) now than last year.  It's down by 27%. That's huge!

To summarize:

Home sales are up (call that DEMAND)

Inventory is way down (call that SUPPLY)

This, my friends, means our real estate market is paced for recovery and growth. Dare I say...it's gonna be a good year!