With the month of April comes Daylight Savings Time, April Showers (to give us those May Flowers), more sunshine (and more allergies) and lots of warmth. As with most Aprils, this one is also showing the housing market start to really pick up some steam. March home sales were strong, even though interest rates started to creep up and the economic forecasts were not very encouraging. As has been predicted for quite some time, interest rates on 30-year fixed as well as ARM products did move significantly higher. A recent quote on a 30-year fixed was at 6.15% and a 3/1 ARM was at 5.5%. By the end of the year, many bankers and economists are expecting the 30-year fixed rate to be between 6.5% and 6.75%. While that may seem high, an interest rate under 7% is still exceptionally low in historical perspective. This year still looks to be on track with last year in terms of number of sales, but I believe that appreciation will be lower, somewhere in the 4-6% range, and that the number of days a house is on the market will increase to 80+ days during the Fall and beyond.