Optimistic housing start stats encourage rumors that 2014 should be another year of recovering. Activity may not be volatile enough to garner bold headlines, which suits residential real estate markets just fine. The steady-as-she-goes pace and quietly consistent good news should bring out a few more previously underwater sellers to list their homes. Keep an eye out for fresh inventory and keen interest from hungry buyers.

In the Twin Cities region, for the week ending January 25:

• New Listings decreased 11.9% to 914
• Pending Sales decreased 13.0% to 663
• Inventory decreased 8.6% to 12,050

For the month of December:

• Median Sales Price increased 13.1% to $190,000
• Days on Market decreased 20.4% to 86
• Percent of Original List Price Received increased 1.0% to 94.7%
• Months Supply of Inventory decreased 15.6% to 2.7

All comparisons are to 2013

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