With home sales on the rise, prices beginning to stabilize and a reduction in inventory, experts say this is a pretty good economic indicator of consumer confidence.  The greater Las Vegas association of realtors says single family homes sales were up 30 percent last month, compared to the same time last year. And nearly three quarters of the properties sold were on the market for less than 60 days.

The median home price in southern Nevada is now 139-thousand dollars -that's up a thousand bucks from September to October.

And although experts don't expect to see prices creeping up like they did during the housing bubble, it is predicted that there will be an steady demand for homes in the valley, in part because of the federal tax credit given to those who are entering the real estate market for the first time.

"Probably about 80 percent of our sales over the last 12 to 18 months have been comprised of first time home buyers and investors. And the extension of the federal tax credit should push that number up in the future," said Rick Shelton, president of the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors.

Yet despite the positive boost in the local housing market, these real estate numbers are still over shadowed by the massive unemployment rate in the valley...

 And the countless families who continue to lose their homes in foreclosure.