Realtors are reporting a higher level of home showings, faster sale times and more units selling across the board in St. Paul, MN.

“The latest data from the St. Paul Area Association of Realtors shows that homes are selling faster than they were last year,” reports Minnesota Public Radio. “Seasonally adjusted by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, the numbers show positive growth in four out of the last five months. That's a trend we haven't seen since 2004,” writes MPR reporter Jessica Mador.

The St. Paul Area Association of Realtors reports, “closed home sales reached 2,070 in the 13-county metro during February 2009, an increase of 3 percent from the previous month and the same percentage increase over February 2008 … . In the first two months of 09 there have been 4,080 closed homes reported in the 13-county metro, an increase of 2.6 percent over the same two month period one year ago.”

The trade association’s statistics report that half of those sales were “lender-mediated.” Another measure of a market that may be warming up is in the count of pending sales (homes that have received contracts, but not yet settled).

“Pending sales, a strong indicator of future closed home sales reached 3,314 during the month of February 2009. That’s a 7.35 percent increase over the number of pending sales reported one year ago and a 17.23 percent increase over January,” according to SPAAR.