It feels good to use terms like “momentum” when describing our industry and November was another positive month for home sales and home prices. Despite Superstorm Sandy, sales were up almost six percent – the highest level since three years ago, when government tax credits for home buyers were still available. At this pace, the annual rate of 5.04 million will approach 2009’s spike of almost five and a half million (5.44). These numbers were far better than expected, exceeding this October’s pace by around three hundred thousand and November, 2011’s by almost six hundred thousand. Even optimistic experts had predicted nothing higher than 4.9 million. Locally, the news is even better as the South’s pace rose more than any other region, experiencing a jump of right at eight percent. Home prices also rose, by roughly eleven percent, to a median hovering around one hundred eighty thousand dollars. We’re still well shy of the numbers seen during the boom, but everything seems to, at last, be moving consistently in the right direction.