Based on current sales figures, the U.S. housing market is having a wonderful time. Prices of existing homes show gains of 3.5% or more since April, and numbers of homes sold are 15% above the lows set in November of last year. Even experts as knowledgeable as Robert Case, of the famed S&P/Case Shiller index, were surprised by the resilience of the housing market over this last year.

If you are hoping to buy a home and enjoy the $8,000 tax credit, you’d better hurry, because November 30th is approaching rapidly. Since most home sales are taking at least 45 days from start to close it’s going to be a photo finish for those of you who currently out looking for that perfect property.

Back in January of this year, before the major media mentioned it, I told readers that bidding wars had erupted over short sales and foreclosures in South Florida. I also mentioned that these properties were often selling above their asking prices, and that home prices seemed not only to be stabilizing, but on occasion, to be rising. In addition, I noted that home sellers were conceding less and less on price.

The House of Representatives has voted to extend the popular $8000 first time home buyers tax credit to military personnel who are currently serving overseas. These soldiers and their families might have missed out on this credit, if it is not otherwise extended, because they were serving their country while it was being offered.

Leave it to congress to try to get in the way of the current housing recovery. Even though the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) is the only lending agency that those who aspire to purchase homes can currently turn to, a House subcommittee has decided that the FHA’s assets suddenly require scrutiny.

Looking through the multiple listings in South Florida, we find that close to one third of homes listed are in short sales. Las Vegas, which underwent a boom and bust cycle similar to that of South Florida, is also awash in short sale properties.

When I checked the multiple listings between West Palm Beach and Miami 2 days ago, there were more than 2,000 single family homes with asking prices of over $1million. If we add condominiums to those numbers, we’ll find at least a thousand more with asking prices of over $1million. But whatever the current asking prices are, they have already been reduced by 30-40% off their 2007 highs.

Despite the fact that we’re supposedly in a buyer’s real estate market, there don’t seem to be enough houses to go around to satisfy the needs of all the first time buyers moving into the Florida market. Perhaps that is why realtors are reporting multiple offers on bank foreclosures, and owners are giving less and less ground on selling prices.

It is not a secret to anyone that the rate of foreclosures in south Florida has increased more than 25% since last year at this time. It’s also not a secret that investors with cash and first time home buyers are gobbling up foreclosures within days of their hitting the market, often paying a premium over asking price. This is occurring during what is still considered a buyer’s market. Realtors continue to report offers in the dozens for reasonably priced foreclosure properties.

Because it is unusual for a bank to offer more than 2 – 2% interest these days, and since the stock market presents continuous volatility, it seems natural to consider an investment that pays a steady 7% - 8% or more almost all of the time. This investment is multi-family housing.

It is always good news for us in Florida when the Case Schiller home price index tells the world that the housing market in our fair state is on a continuous track of improvement. Even more telling about the state of affairs in our state is that the Florida Consumer Confidence Index, which is just what it sounds like, also showed a modest increase.

The rise of the S&P/Case-Shiller Index also improved the stock futures this morning. Those numbers show that in the major 20 metropolitan centers in USA the home prices rose 1.6 percent.