Investment-grade commercial real estate prices gained 4.4% in the third quarter of this year. But, it's hard to tell if -- like brief blips of hope we've seen in consumer spending, unemployment and even luxury meals in London -- this is a change in the market or just a tease.

This increase in the MIT Center for Real Estate's transaction-based index (TBI) is the first up-tick in more than a year and the biggest gain since the middle of 2007. One quarter doesn't make a trend, cautions David Geltner, director of research at the MIT Center for Real Estate, but he says, "this is the strongest sign of a bottom that we've had in two years." The TBI reached 36.5% below its 2007 peak last quarter, up from 39% from the high-water mark in mid-2007.

A year ago, Manhattan homeowners lived within the firm grasp of the worst recession in 70 years. A skyrocketing real estate market seemed ready to come back to Earth, as carnage in the financial services industry – which spread to just about every other business – decimated incomes and net worths throughout the city.

From the second quarter to the third, this year, the sale of co-ops and apartments spiked between 46% and 69% according to several reports from the real estate business. Sales are still lower than last year, but the recovery has been nothing short of amazing (to the chagrin of those of us who had dreams of one day moving up from the rental class).

Prudential Douglas Elliman reported a price increase of almost 2% from the second quarter, though the median was down 8% to 18% from last year – to the $760,000 to $850,000 range. Jonathan Miller, president and CEO of Miller Samuel Inc., a real estate appraisal and consulting firm, calls this good news, but cautions that it doesn't mean we're at the bottom.

A little more good news for the struggling housing market Tuesday, as a closely watched home price index showed increases in prices for the third straight month in July.

The news comes from the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index, which shows that home prices rose by 1.2% from June to July.

The housing market got two pieces of bad news Friday. The first being weaker-than-expected earnings for KB Home (NYSE: KBH) and the second being a less-than-expected rise in new home sales last month.

First, the good news. New home sales did rise last month. In the current economic environment, that by itself is good news. Unfortunately the rise was less than analysts had been expecting to see.

In another sign that the housing market may be emerging from its slump, applications for mortgages rose last week by a nice 12.8 percent.

The news comes from the Mortgage Bankers Association which stated that its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage applications rose to 668.5, which is the highest that the index has read since back on May 22.

Disgraced Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff's (former) Montauk, Long Island home is no longer on the market. A buyer willing to pay more than the $8.75 million asking price has picked up the property, only two weeks after the U.S. Marshals Service listed it for sale.

Anne Lacombe, spokeswoman for the Corcoran Group, a real estate broker involved in the transaction, said the home was under contract for more than asking but did not have information on the exact amount, buyer or closing date, according to the Associated Press.

"Right now, I believe real estate investment trusts (REITs) are one of the worst places you can put your money; but there is one exception," says Tom Dyson.

In Daily Wealth, he looks to Realty Income (NYSE: O), explaining, "This REIT -- which has paid 463 consecutive quarterly dividends -- is one of my all-time favorite income investments." Here's his review.

"I see abandoned real estate all over my town. Half the businesses still operating are running on fumes. Our Kmart is a basket case. It's always empty. The Walgreen's is a teardown. Sears has gone. The carpet store has gone and they've boarded up the car dealership.

Pending home sales were up again last month for a sixth month in a row. The housing market has been a significant drag on the economy and may be one of the root causes of the crises of the last two years, so good news continues to be very welcome.

When you consider this week's pending home sales numbers in combination with the recent uptick in housing price indexes there seems to be reason for optimism. Homebuilding stocks are also up significantly since the bottom earlier this year and real estate in general seems like it may be turning into a profitable asset class again.

Shares in Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) struggled to hold onto ground gained early in the trading session, a day after the luxury home-builder reported a much larger quarterly loss. Shares rallied shortly after the morning bell on comments from Toll on Thursday that it sees the U.S. housing market beginning to stabilize.

Trading volume hit a peak just before 10 a.m. ET when 95,000 shares traded hands. But a new survey showing a decline in consumer confidence helped push trading volume lower and the stock dipped into negative territory before resuming positive gains.

Manhattan apartment rents fell as much as 10% in August, on a year-over-year basis, according to data compiled by the Real Estate Group of New York, with concessions by owners widespread, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday.

July was a good month for new home sales, which saw an increase of 9.6 percent during the month.

Before we look at the good news, let's cover the bad news first. Even with the jump in sales in July, new home sales are still well below their peak four years ago. In fact, new home sales are 69 percent below their peaks when the housing market was at its best.

U.S. existing home sales rose 7.2% in July to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate to 5.24 million units, the National Association of Realtors announced Friday. It was the fourth straight monthly rise.

However, the best news in the data was not so much the sales uptrend, as it was the apparent bottoming of the price downtrend: at minimum, the rate of decline is abating. Don't misunderstand: prices are still lower, on a year-over-year basis, but there are signs of stabilization.

There was in increase in construction of single family homes in July, marking the fifth straight month for such an increase.

It should come as no surprise, after we learned yesterday that homebuilder confidence had rose to a new 12-month high. According to the commerce department, construction on new single family homes rose 2%, and permits for future construction jumped an impressive 6% during July.

Homebuilder confidence hit a 1 year high today, providing another sign that the worst of the housing melt down may have passed.

The housing market started to crumble back in 2006, and since that time foreclosures and falling home prices have hit the economy hard, and played a major role in the recession that has effected millions. Today the The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo confidence index climbed to 18, the highest level that it has been since June 2008.

Private equity returns are down 27.6% year-over-year for the 12-month period ending July 30, 2009, according to a Preqin report received by BloggingStocks. The London-based research house notes, however, that the global private equity industry's dry powder (i.e., uncommitted assets) continues to exceed $1 trillion, suggesting that there is still plenty of capital waiting for a rainy day.

Returns for the past 12 months reflect all the nastiness we've seen and lived -- bailouts, company collapses, equity and credit market mayhem and unemployment rates dangerously close to double-digits. But, the money is still coming in. Preqin puts the rate by which contributions outpaced distributions at 235% for buyout funds in 2008. This category raised $148 billion while distributing only $63 billion, making last year the most imbalanced for these two measures in history.