Real Estate Healing

Yes, we are beginning to see healing take place here locally in Southwest WA. Just yesterday The Columbian newspaper reported that pending sales are up by 17.4% in Clark County. This is significantly higher than the national average increase of 6.7% according to the National Association of Realtors.

I would agree completely that we are seeing an increase in traffic. Since prices are still down at amazingly low places and interest rates are still incredible lots of people are taking advantage of these market conditions. This is such a good time for first time home buyers and also those looking to move up into a larger home.

Beyond Real Estate

In other news yesterday, MSNBC did a great write up about which states should see the earliest recovery from the recession we’re currently in. Here is a little excerpt from this post:

If you want to be in the right place when the recovery starts, that place may be in Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Texas or Washington.

The recession didn’t start at the same time in every state, and it won’t end at the same time either. A new forecast from Moody’s Economy.com predicts that jobs growth will return first in those five states, starting in the last quarter of this year. Four of those states benefit from strong high-tech industries, and the fifth, Texas, has a strong base of energy industries.

How exciting to be listed as one of the top 5 places to see this early recovery. Make sure you head over to check out the article and also look at the amazing interactive map they have. You can see where they are predicting recovery for your state (assuming you are reading from somewhere other than the wonderful area of Clark County, WA).

What do you think? What are you seeing? Do you think we’ll see recovery happening here in Washington and Oregon by the last quarter of this year? I think we’re already seeing signs of the housing portion of the recovery process happen. Stay tuned as this year progresses.