What Monday's (rather positive) local real estate market report does and does not mean for you

There are lots of positive trends in the local housing market right now! 

• Home sales are on the rise (July over July)
• Contracts are on the rise (July over July and year over year)
• Median sales prices have stayed steady (July '10  to July '11)
• Average sales prices have increased (July '10 to July '11)
  

Does this mean that the local real estate market fully recovered? 
Is the future now rosy and bright? 
Will home value start going up, up, up again? 

While there are some wonderful, positive indicators in Monday's housing market report (PDF) here are some other not-as-exciting current market realities:

• Home sales have declined 6% in the past year (YTD)
• Median sales prices have declined 8% in the past year (YTD)
• Average sales prices have declined 5% in the past year (YTD)
• Days on market have increased 12% in the past year (YTD)

So how do we sort out all of these short-term positive trends, and these longer-term negative trends?  Should we be shouting for joy?  Should we be worried and fearful? 

I would suggest cautious optimism. While we're not out of the woods yet, there are lots of indicators that would suggest that we're nearing a turning point in the market.