By David W. Jones, The News-Herald, Willoughby, Ohio

Feb. 1--Lake and Geauga counties' real estate experts and public officials are cautiously optimistic about the Northeast Ohio housing market eventually getting out of the three-year recession.

Within the Lake-Geauga Area Association of Realtors, among watchers are its Women's Council of Realtors President Barbara Joyce and President-elect Nina Calo-Gambatese, both of Howard Hanna Realty.

"I think we're getting out of the slumps and seeing a lot more activity. I think truly the worst is behind us," Joyce said. "Things are starting to move swifter, whereas a year ago it took 120 days just to close an agreement. The federal tax credit has helped a lot and it's extended until April 1."

In Ohio's downstate Appalachia area and in parts of other states, some counties seem close to repeating the depression-like housing downfalls of the 1970s.

But in its biggest housing starts ever in decades from 1930 to now, Geauga County saw 6,294 housing starts from 1970 to 1979, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In that same period of housing downfalls, Lake County saw a 9.5 percent increase in housing starts.

With Geauga County often as No. 1 and Lake County second or third, both counties also were always in the top 10 counties with the most housing starts in the nationally booming 1990s. Contributing to this were new subdivisions packed with single-family homes and some condominiums.

In a written statement on the bright side, Doug McCloud, president of the Ohio Association of Realtors, said the state's housing sector saw "strong" year-end sales and "a clear uptick" in average sales prices, then added: "The 2009 market certainly presented a number of challenges for both industry professionals and property owners in all corners of the Buckeye State. Yet we ended the year on a positive note with an outstanding fourth quarter."

Geauga County Auditor Frank Gliha is only cautiously optimistic.

"Not counting building permits for housing improvements, we were seeing maybe 300 to 400 actual new homes every year until 2009. Then it went down to maybe a pitiful 60. We were down about a million dollars in real estate sales tax from 2008 to 2009," Gliha said.

"We've now got people caught up in the economy and afraid to spend. I think we're going to start off this new year slightly worse than in 2009. The real estate market is very flat. But people know Geauga County is the place to go."

U.S. Commerce Department figures show new-home construction nationally reached 905,500 starts in 2008, then fell to 553,800 by the end of 2009.

The WCR's Calo-Gambatese said it's difficult to predict what's next.

"It's hard to say even in a good or down market. December is always a tough month. But we're already having a great January. We've got a handful of new listings and a handful of buyers, and people are trying to buy real estate. I do think it's going to get better and that 2010 is going to be a good year," she said.

A first-time buyer can get an $8,000 federal tax credit in a program started about a year ago. If a resident has owned a home and lived in it for five years, he can get a $6,500 credit. April 30 is the deadline for both applications.

"The first time the tax credit was announced, it got people off the fence and they started looking," Calo-Gambatese said.

-----

To see more of The News-Herald or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.news-herald.com.

Copyright (c) 2010, The News-Herald, Willoughby, Ohio

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.