The good news is that sales are climbing back to last year's numbers. The bad news is that last year's sales weren't very good, but you gotta start somewhere. If this continues, we could get back to 2007 volume by December. Part of the improvement is caused by attractive prices. The average sale price to date of $544,900 is only 1.7 percent under 2008 to date, but 3.5 percent less than last year's overall average. With sales volume increasing and the inventory stable for over two months, prices are firming up and this will be close to, if not past, the bottom. By this time next year, we'll be hearing complaints from buyers who missed it.

Real estate fact of the week

$327,500... average Summit County sale price in 2004 — the last market bottom

$388,200... average Summit County sale price twelve months later —

18.5 percent higher

Chuck Leathers, CRS, broker/owner of Chuck Leathers Real Estate Co., is a full-time Summit County Realtor since 1985. His website is www.chuckleathers.com and he can be reached at (888) 485-2300 or e-mail him at ChuckLeathers@Realtor.com.