Economists say the housing market is starting to heal, but too many people aren't aware of it because they're judging a housing recovery on the wrong sign: What’s happening with home prices.
Paul Dales at Capital Economics says higher prices won’t be the sign that the housing market is on the mend — that can be a lagging indicator — but rather an increase in overall home sales. And that's showing signs of improvement: Existing home sales in 2011 rose to 4.26 million compared to 4.19 million in 2010. In the last six months alone, home sales have increased 13 percent.

Source:  Fortune (March 20, 2012)