The housing market in New Jersey - at least in the central Jersey area - seems to be performing like a normal market for this time of year.  As I pointed out last week, there has been increased client activity almost uniformly throughout the state.  Lately it has become more intense, as buyers make the leap to buy a home.  For this time of year, that is normal.  Is this noteworthy?

I believe that for the market to take off now is quite remarkable in light of all the negative characterizations we have read and heard over the last few months.  Wall Street analysts and their toadies in the media have done their best to keep bad news in front of the public. 

Even some New Jersey Realtors® have written elsewhere that the market won't recover until 2011, or as late as 2014.  Like Eeyore, they seem to have overdosed on thistles.  I wish them success in their new careers. 

A take-off right now is remarkable also for all the boiling and bubbling going on in the mortgage market.  The sub-prime mortgage collapse, peaking in August of last year, put a lot of lenders either out of business or on the sidelines.  Change is coming slowly, but at least there is movement on a number of fronts.  Increased "conforming" loan limits, lower interest rates, and promised increased federal scrutiny of lenders are all having an impact.

So, in New Jersey we seem to be moving - cautiously, perhaps - into a spring market.  How normal!