Here’s just a sample of the latest:

• Single-housing starts for August are up 7% and it looks like they’ll post the first double-digit annualized gain after 13 straight double-digit declines, that’s quite a swing.

• Market home prices are up nationwide, somewhere between 2.7% and 7.3%, depending on whose numbers you trust (Freddie on the low side, Clear Capital on the high).

• The nearly record low rates last week boosted mortgage apps up by 17%.

• We’re enjoying 6 straight months of pending sales increases.  In Lansing, we’ve already closed as many transactions as we did all of last year.

• Consumer confidence ratings are up—and in all categories: current conditions and short-term outlook in both the economy and labor markets.

So the indicators that we’ve been watching so intently, so nervously over the past two years seem to be settling in to a healthy rhythm. And that’s good.

And though we may never be as complacent as we were a few years ago, that’s probably good too. In fact, maybe those were the dark days—when we thought nothing could go wrong…maybe. Either way, I’m ready for some sunshine.

• Nationwide, July’s pending home sales saw a 3.6% increase, the fifth consecutive monthly increase. And if you’re keeping track, that’s the longest string of increases since 2003. Why this good news now? A few reasons: 1. We’re gaining lost ground, and we’ve lost a lot of ground in the last two years; 2. Affordability—low prices and continued low mortgage rates work great together; 3 Timing—in addition to low prices, there’s also a sense that the bottoming out of the market has passed, so prices aren’t getting any lower. Now if we can just get the rest of the economy’s numbers (GDP, unemployment rates) to turn…

• Actually, there’s some hopeful news there too. The latest quarterly drop in GDP, about 1%, is much better than the previous quarter’s drop of 6%. Yes, it’s still a drop, but economists are optimistic that this is a slowing trend, an early sign of recovery. And if GDP recovers and moves into positive growth, employment will follow.

• Consumer confidence is still shaky, but this is an indicator that relies heavily on other indicators, particularly unemployment numbers. The more good news we hear about jobs and business, the more confident we are as consumers. So we should expect that this should be trailing the rest. So even this bad news is actually good news.

Is a full economic recovery a certainty? Of course not. But it’s never been a certainty; there’s always been risk—fundamental and necessary risk!—even in boom times. In fact, it was our losing sight of risk that contributed much of these recent woes.

So be optimistic—not foolhardy, just optimistic—and expect good news. And when you hear it, share it. Our economy thrives on transactions like that.

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