If putting your home on the market is a sign of optimism, however so small, then more sellers are doing some positive thinking. The number of homes for sale in the Baltimore metro area jumped 10 percent between February and March.
That's the biggest springtime increase since 2006, and it comes even as more homes were newly off the market thanks to buyer activity, according to Metropolitan Regional Information Systems data.
No doubt some of those new sellers in March were hoping to ride the home buyer tax credit wave. (Even some of the sellers who hit the market in April, for that matter. The deadline to sign a contract and qualify for the credit was April 30.)
The inventory of homes for sale in the region has been mostly on the downswing since the fall of 2008, at least compared year-over-year -- a trend that began with sellers giving up, not buyers stepping up. Buying began to increase last year.
The for-sale inventory was down in March from a year earlier, too, even with the bump-up from February. But just 2 percent, which is the smallest year-over-year drop in months.
We'll get a look at April when those stats are released next week.
Do you feel like you have more options now, buyers?