The February increase was greeted with cautious hope from some economists, who say declining home prices will attract bargain-hunters, increasing sales. The May numbers, released today, brought this comment from Wachovia: "It is still too early to call a bottom in the home sales market, but clearly the vast majority of the declines in sales are behind us." (The continuing problem, Wachovia says, is "excess inventory" -- too many would-be sellers competing for too few buyers.)

Compared with May 2007, sales are down about 16 percent, the NAR says. Both the average and median price of a U.S. home dropped more than 6 percent in May compared with a year earlier.

May numbers for the Baltimore metro area, released earlier by Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, show fairly flat prices -- up a bit on average, down a bit on median -- but a larger, 30 percent drop in year-over-year sales.