Greetings neighbors,

If you haven't heard, the economy is showing signs of vast improvement and the real estate market is also reflecting a positive moment.

Pending home sales have made a significant increase despite a large decline in November 2009. Purchase contracts that were signed in December 2009 caused these numbers to rise, which in turn points to an even stronger market this spring.

According to recent numbers, nationally pending sales increased 1%. Regionally, pending sales gained 5.2% in the Midwest, 2.3% in the Northeast, and 2.2% in the South. However, the West experienced a 3.8% lost.  In addition, when compared to December of 2008, pending sales contracts were up by 11% in December 2009.

As for growth of the economy, the gross domestic product (GDP) expanded at a rate of 5.7% in the fourth quarter of 2009. This was more than the expected consensus forecast of 4.5% by economists.