Shifting through this list of housing numbers and graphs can seem like a daunting task. But what Steve Bois, the CEO for the Rockford Area Realtors sees isn't so bad.

"We actually sold and closed more homes in October of 2009 this year than 2008," says Bois. Last October there were 344 condo and home sales. This that number rose to 383. Plus the average home sale price rose to more than $131,000. That's the highest its been this year.

"It's just another indicator, it's an average price going up, which means perhaps prices are holding stable," says Bois.

Month to month home sales are also showing hope of a recovering housing market. Sales from September to October climbed more than five percent. Usually those numbers are falling this time of the year.

Bois says, "these are small percentages that I think are pointing towards the potential of some stability in the market and hopefully perhaps some slow recovery."

Bois is already tracking November sales and it looks like they could rise above October's. "Our pending sales are significantly up from what they were in 2008 going into November, so we're hoping that we'll see some reasonable results for November based on these pending sales going forward."

Bois says the first time homebuyer's tax credit has really helped to boost sales across the country. It's supposed to end this month, but could be extended until April if Congress votes to continue it.