There is some good news. An unexpected improvement in home sales in       December provided a rare dose of welcomed economic news amid so much gloomy news.

AS WITH ANY statistics, we need to look at the overall picture and that's why it is so hard to "time the market". By the time trends are developed, we may miss the best buying opportunity. Though this is encouraging, most are waiting to see if those numbers will continue to improve.

So what is happening in Kuna's market? I like to seperate our numbers from the rest of Ada county.

Kuna's sold numbers did improve, selling almost 24% more single family residential than Dec 2007. But what really surprised me was the ratio of new to existing that sold. 2007 saw almost 50-50.  This December, almost 3x the number of existing homes sold compared to new.

The average sold price in Dec 2008 fell about 10% from $178,431 to 161,477.(Ada county, as a whole, experienced a 15% drop in average price)

No one likes to see their home lose that much value, but compared to my retirement accounts numbers.....      real estate is still a pretty good investment.