“The worst is behind us, Things are picking up.”

Western New York Realtors saw renewed life in the local home selling market in April, despite a fourth consecutive monthly drop in the total number of residential deals.

The Buffalo Niagara Association of Realtors on Monday reported a total of 808 single- family homes were sold last month, five fewer than in April 2007. However, it was a solid bounce back from March, when 733 homes sold, an 11 percent slump from the prior year.

While the market showed signs of improvement, Buffalo Niagara residential sales over the January-through-April period were off eight percent for the same period of 2007.

“The worst is behind us,” said Realty- USA Chief Executive Merle Whitehead. “We’re seeing strong foot traffic at open houses and getting more calls for listings. Things are picking up.”

The median residential sale price, which indicates half of homes sold for more and half for less, climbed 5 percent to $101,000. That beats the March median price of $97,000, and April 2007’s $95,000.

The average sale price in April came in at $121,849, just slightly below last April’s $121,927, and well ahead of the March average of $117,332.

New and active listing totals showed month-to-month and year-over-year gains. A total of 1,845 new listings were recorded in April, up from 1,448 in March and 1,728 in April 2007. Active listings totaled 5,382 last month, besting the March total of 5,134, and the prior April’s 5,055.

BNAR President James Knight said local home buyers and sellers are shaking off the traditional winter doldrums, along with fears based on national housing trends. Knight said he recently attempted a national real estate conference in Washington, D. C., where the prevailing message was a reminder that real estate markets are local, not national.

“We’re micro, not macro, and the real story is what happening neighborhood-to-neighborhood, not state-to-state, or coast-to-coast,” Knight said. “And what we’re seeing in our neighborhoods is pretty darn good.”

Whitehead agreed, saying local residents should ignore the national housing slump data.

“We’re rock stars here compared to most other markets,” Whitehead said. “Basing home buying and selling decisions on what you see on CNN or network news is like checking a national weather forecast to get the local conditions.”

Both Whitehead and Knight predicted May will see positive sales totals, setting the stage for a strong 2008.

“Our biggest problem is consumer confidence. In reality this is a well-balanced market with a great selection of inventory and great interest rates and we’ll see that in the numbers over the next few months, ” Whitehead said.