As we take our first gentle steps into the first year of predicted housing market improvement in many years, let’s look at why we’re feeling bullish. Affordability is high; coupled with historically low interest rates, people are ready to lay their money down. Inventory is generally down, creating more competition among those searching for homes. Desire plus demand has created more frequent tickles of price rising just as foreclosures and short sales are selling through the market, becoming less of a drag on those prices. The residential real estate recovery is tentative and fragile, but it’s still a recovery.

In the Twin Cities region, for the week ending February 2:

• New Listings decreased 9.6% to 1,120
• Pending Sales increased 1.8% to 872
• Inventory decreased 31.4% to 12,213

For the month of January:

• Median Sales Price increased 14.3% to $160,000
• Days on Market decreased 24.1% to 107
• Percent of Original List Price Received increased 2.5% to 93.5%
• Months Supply of Inventory decreased 42.0% to 2.9

Click here for the full Weekly Market Activity Report.From The Skinny.