Looking for a Positive Sign in the Real Estate Market?

Over past few years we've been inundated with negative real estate market new, but that might be changing? Recently there's been two reports published that show signs of a potential turn in the market and gives us cause for some optimism looking forward.

First off, the CoreLogic Report shows that shadow inventory levels have declined almost 9% in the last month, which is a leading indicator that impending distressed sales may be declining. If that trend continues, that would be a big step in heading towards recovery in the real estate market.

Secondly, a Macro Market Report suggests that the national real estate market has either hit the bottom in the 1st quarter of this year or will before the end of 2011. Although 2/3rds of the economist panel predicted hitting the bottom in 2011, they also only predicted a 2% increase in home values thru 2015. So, although that feels like a mixed message, I believe at a minimum it begins to show further signs of market stability, and we need to cross that bridge 1st, before we can see the recovery we're all anxiously awaiting.

As always, real estate markets take on their own characteristics locally, and I would say that the Greater Twin Cities area has felt the downturn more than other markets throughout the country, but that could also indicate that we have more opportunity to rebound more quickly and the savvy real estate buyer/investor will see these signs as a call to action to act now rather than later.