Happy to report any sort of good news. These figures come from Patrick Newport of Global Insight:

• Existing home sales rebounded 6.5% in December, though Newport later adds: “Sales were up in December mainly because they plunged in November. Sampling error probably accounted for November’s plunge. Despite December’s rebound, sales are trending down nationally and in all regions of the country except the West.”

More stats below:

• Single-family home sales were up 7.0%; condo/co-op sales increased 2.1%.
• Sales were up 13.6% in the West, 7.4% in the South and 4.0% in the Midwest, but slipped 1.4% in the Northeast.
• The median price of a single-family home was down 14.8% year-on-year (y/y), while the average price was off 14.9% y/y.
• In the West, however, the median price was down a much larger 31.6% y/y in December.
• The months’ supply of existing homes slipped from 11.2 to 9.3 months.