Some recent positive signs for home buyers and sellers:
• The market is performing so strongly that the National Association of Realtors has upgraded its forecast for the year. It is now expected that existing-home sales will rise by 3.5 percent.
• According to Census Bureau data, for the first time in a decade, more new households chose to buy a home rather than rent one in the first quarter of 2017.
• Existing-home sales rose 4.4 percent in March to their highest pace in over 10 years, according to the National Association of Realtors.
• Sales of new single-family houses increased 5.8 percent in March, according the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
• Privately owned building permits rose 3.6 percent in March, and are 17 percent above the March 2016 rate.
