Is it really possible that home sales are rising despite the state of our nation’s economy? Apparently so! Here are some facts from Realty Times:

• Resales of existing homes jumped by 5.5 percent last week — that was the largest monthly increase since July of 2003, in the middle of the housing boom. In the western states, sales were up a record 34.4 percent!
• Sales of newly constructed homes also were higher in the latest month, according to the Census Bureau — up by 2.7 percent on average nationwide, but by an impressive 22.7 percent in the West.
• New mortgage applications took another big jump this past week, with 30-year fixed interest dropping to 6.26 percent and 15-year rates to 6.1 percent.

To read more on this issue, check out this article published earlier today. We shouldn’t put too much merit in these numbers, especially with the way our economy is, but maybe the real estate industry has a bright future after all.