“When we compare our 2008 numbers to 2009, we are up significantly,” Kris Ratigan, Mel Foster Co.’s marketing director, said Monday of the market’s performance.

Citing statistics from the Quad-Cities Multiple Listing Service, or MLS, which tracks all homes sales in the market, she said the area closed $38.193 million in sales in December. That compared with $32.142 million a year earlier. The number of units sold was 241 in December, which was flat with 233 units sold in December 2008.

Caroline Ruhl, the president of Ruhl & Ruhl Realtors, said her company saw an 11.7 percent increase in units sold in December from a year ago. Sales volume was up, from $34.32 million to $41.38 million, in Ruhl & Ruhl’s combined markets.

But the Quad-City area saw sales slide from November to December. In November, the Quad-City MLS posted $48.74 million in sales with 372 units sold. The November performance was boosted, in large part, by first-time homebuyers rushing to close deals ahead of the original federal tax credit deadline.

“We slid, but you normally go down in December because of the cycle,” Ratigan said, adding that the holidays and winter weather traditionally slow down the market.

However, the average sales price for the MLS of $158,478 in December was above both November’s $131,379 average and the $133,657 average a year ago, she said.

Ruhl said one of the indicators to watch is pending sales, which showed strength in December. Her company posted a 26 percent increase in volume and a 39 percent increase in units in year-over-year comparisons.

“That’s a huge December,” she said, adding that the sales were “riding the first-time homebuyer tax credit, good interest rates and what I think is pent up demand.”

Across the Midwest, home sales declined from November to December, but ended the last month up 9 percent from prior-year levels, according to the National Association of Realtors.

There were 86,000 sales in the 11-state region last month, with a median sales price of $173,600, up almost 4 percent.

That was slightly weaker than the national trend.

Total home sales across the country were up nearly 15 percent in December, without adjusting for seasonal factors. The median home price nationally gained nearly 4 percent, to $225,400.

(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)

Provided by: QC Times, Jennifer DeWitt