The numbers for October are out. And, overall, they don't show a tremendous amount of change. The total number of solds remain low. In most counties the number of new listings was up. But the overall inventory showed a very slight decrease almost everywhere.

Clearly the inventory decrease has to be due to something other than houses being sold. Some of the homes were taken off the market. A lot of them were rented as that market remains much healthier than the market for sales.

The brightest spot in all of this is that the number of contracts written spiked up a fair amount this month. And that bears out the anecdotal evidence I've seen and heard. We've known there's some pent up demand out there. At least some of those buyers have made the decision that this is the time. I'm guessing a lot of them would like to be in their new homes for Christmas.

I'm also receiving an increasing number of inquiries from buyers who want to start looking now but don't intend to buy until the spring. I'm hoping that what I'm seeing there is also part of a larger trend.

Over the next couple of days, I'll post the detailed charts with the numbers for Culpeper, Fauquier, Rappahannock and Prince William Counties. If you have a special request for the inventory for another county, e-mail me or post a comment here and I'll get you the information. I have the data for just about every county in the northern half of Virginia.

Bottom line on all the data is that there's a little bit of increased activity and still a long way to go to get this inventory back to a manageable level!

Rappahannock County is a very different real estate market. It's different from the surrounding counties in a multitude of ways. It's more rural. There's no stop light in the county. There's no supermarket in the county and no fast food joints. There are more people than sheep in the county!

Those are part of what contribute to its uniqueness. But from a real estate perspective, the zoning restrictions contribute significantly to the difference. The minimum lot size to build (unless grandfathered in) is 25 acres. You won't see any mammoth subdivisions in Rappahannock County.

Because of all these factors the real estate market is different here. This county is battered less by the extreme ups and downs of the market. Demand is lower overall but there tend to be fewer peaks and valleys.

However, even Rappahannock County has noticed this market slowdown. There are 84 active listings in the county. Before the slow down that was generally in the mid-30s.

The average sales price is very unenlightening. With only three properties sold in an average month the numbers can swing wildly based on how many multi-million dollar properties sold. So we won't even bother with those numbers!

The average number of days a property stays on the market has jumped in the last year from 84 days to 196 days. Even in Rappahannock County, things are selling more slowly.

It appears there's no place to hide from this tough sellers market. But there's always good news out there and we'll talk about that tomorrow!

Before we get started can I just say that I like good housing news as much as the next guy, and probably more! I'm looking for it, I swear I am. The numbers just aren't cooperating!

March numbers are in for the local markets and they're not pretty.

Culpeper shows that total inventory increased to 643. The number of new listings coming on the market increased from 91 in February to 145 in March. Meanwhile there were 54 new contracts ratified and 52 sales closed.

In Fauquier the inventory is up to 723. 212 new listings came on the market in March, up from 135 in February. 94 new contracts were ratified and 62 sales closed.

In Rappahannock, as usual, there's less variation. There are 66 properties currently for sale. 10 new properties came on the market in March, 3 less than in February. Three listings went under contract and 5 sales closed.

In Prince William county the inventory is now 4527. 1764 new listings came on the market in March compared to 1172 in February. 508 new contracts were ratified and there were 418 closed sales.

Inventory is back up to right around October/November, 2006 levels.

In other not good news this week, D R Horton, a major national homebuilder announced spectacularily bad financials again as well as a warning that they see the market weakness continuing for the next three quarters.

OK, clearly the bright spot here is for the buyers! And I'm very happy for them and it was definitely their turn!

Sellers, if there's a bright spot here it's that it is absolutely crystal clear that you shouldn't be selling if you don't need to! How's that for finding that silver lining!

You're turn to tell me about all the good news you're seeing out there!