Okay so reading this blog is like getting the news 6 weeks early. Granted, I thought it would make the news at the end of September, and here it is in today's Times:

The inestimable Lucia Mutikani reports for Reuters that existing home sales rose to a 2-year high in September. These numbers are more meaningful than how, in two posts ago as I mentioned, new home builders have just been messing all over themselves. From Mutikani's article:

The National Association of Realtors said sales of existing homes jumped 9.4 percent in September to an annual rate of 5.57 million units, the highest level since July 2007. Financial markets had expected sales to rise to a 5.35 million unit pace...

I can't emphasize enough, especially now that the new home buyer tax credit should be extended into the spring this week in congress, that figures of existing home sales along with forward indicators of durable goods orders and business sentiment indicators (precursors to job growth) are the real numbers to watch. Don't look at the bad numbers arising from bad strategy from bad managers at bad builder corporations.

Okay so new home sales numbers weren't reported to be up last week. So? First of all, the housing market is local in nature. If all politics is local as Tip O'Neill said, then real estate and housing is darn near skin-tight.

In recent years, the real estate website Zillow.com has seen increasing traffic. According to the traffic reporting site Alexa.com, Zillow's traffic is close to reaching, at long last, the venerable and dominant Realtor.com, which in years past we have favored over all other sites, mostly because of its excellent and fair search results (giving users what they need, not what advertisers want), and because of its towering dominance in national listings websites.

Austin is an odd bird in the Texas aviary of real estate, both commercial and residential. The Austin Business Journal is reporting that commercial and residential contracts combined are down almost 50% through August of this year over last year, which itself was not a stellar year.

If you think I've been overly optimistic, please note this. It needs no commentary. From The Houston Chronicle Tuesday:

Toll Brothers, a publicly traded home building company, has earned the industry's top three awards, including America's Best Builder from the National Association of Home Builders, the National Housing Quality Award and Builder of the Year.

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From Reuters on Friday:

The Associated Press is reporting that the administration and congress are undecided about whether to extend the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit, which is set to expire November 30 of this year. The credit allows up to an $8,000 refundable tax credit on the purchase of a first-time home. It's been a very effective policy for the past year, key to improving economic conditions in the U.S.