Signs of life in housing market

In a sign the local real-estate market is improving - or that it had nowhere to go but up - home sales in the San Fernando Valley rose in 2009, an industry group reported Thursday.Kevin Modesti in the Daily News.

The Southland Regional Association of Realtors said the 7,793 single-family houses sold in the Valley last year represented a 9.9 percent increase from 2008, and the 2,494 condos changing hands marked a 15.4 percent increase.

House sales rose for the second year in a row following four consecutive declines, while condo sales broke a six-year losing streak - but each sector totaled roughly half its peak over the past decade.