Patty McMillen

For a while last year it might have seemed as if the long-awaited housing recovery was just about here.  Home prices stopped falling in spring and have stayed fairly stable since, according to the housing index.  Sales rose from their recessionary lows and inventories came down from their highs.  But this pickup turned out to be a short-lived scene.  Sales of existing homes dropped sharply in January from the previous month, and inventories crept back up.  The economists predict that the national median price for homes will dip another 5% before finally bottoming by year-end 2011.    More than 3 million homes are expected to get foreclosure notices this year, as job losses increase.  We can continue to hear these results thru the news and various opinions but I feel that we are starting to make turns for the better.  More sellers are seeing an small increase over the last couple of years and less inventory always helps.  The foreclosures are still hitting the market daily so until these stop we are going to see marginal progress.