If it feels to you like the flood of foreclosures is never going to end, there's signs of hope coming from an unlikely place. According to the broker-owned Realcomp, housing sales in foreclosure-drenched Detroit and Wayne County are up for the fifth consecutive month.

Prices are irresistible. The median sales price on a foreclosed home in May was just under $39,000 ($38,875,) while the median price on non-foreclosed homes was $124,500. The city of Detroit registered more foreclosure sales (644) than non-foreclosure sales (395.)

May MLS listings were still high at about 66,000, but that's down remarkably (7.44 percent) from May 2006.

Year to date, sales are up 12.7 percent over 2006, and Realcomp reports that pending sales for May were also up, suggesting that June will sustain the trend.

The MLS says that foreclosures are obviously still a drag on the marketplace. Michigan is fifth in the nation for foreclosures, but that homes are priced to sell.

That's an understatement -- home prices are down 33 percent in the MLS, and as much as 69 percent in the city of Detroit. Homes that sold for $27,000 a year ago are fetching only 8,500 today for foreclosures, and $8,625 for non-foreclosures.

The bad news here is that Motown has suffered mass layoffs since the first oil and gas crisis in the 1970s and 80s, and mass layoffs may spread like a virus to the rest of the country.

The Department of Labor says that the number of mass layoff events, those in which 50 or more employees are let go as measured by filings for unemployment insurance, have increased significantly over last year. From January through May 2008, there have been 7,615 mass layoffs and unemployment claims of 783,942, while the same period in 2007 was 6,325 mass layoffs and 650,605 claims.

But before things get worse, they might get better. An employment outlook entitled Beyond the Big Leave finds that between 1999 and 2007 Michigan lost 29 percent of employment from the Detroit Three, Ford, Chrysler and GM. The report notes that employment will continue to decline through 2016, but that new hires replacing aging boomers and other attrition will attract workers, although they will be paid less than their counterparts were before massive buyouts.

As the Detroit Three retool themselves for a new smaller car market, as many as 46,000 new workers could be hired in Michigan alone.

As one CAR analyst says, "The bleeding will stop."

Published: June 23, 2008

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Blanche Evans is the award-winning senior editor of Realty Times, the Internet's leading independent real estate news service. She is featured daily on the Realty Times Video Network in the "Realty Viewpoint" segment. Blanche has been named one of the "25 Most Influential People In Real Estate" by REALTOR Magazine, and has been twice recognized as a "notable." In 2005, she was named "Top Reporter Covering the NAR" by Delahaye-Bacon's. Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. To contact Blanche, email her at . For more articles by Blanche, click here.