The Ann Arbor area’s residential real estate companies expect countywide data to show that the first quarter of 2010 will post significant sales increases over 2009.

The Ann Arbor Area Board of Realtors is compiling the data this week.

However, with brisk activity as the federal homebuyer tax credit end on April 30, many companies said their own statistics confirm a market rebound.

“March was really good,” said Laura Dykstra, associate broker at Edward Surovell Realtors in Ann Arbor.

Surovell's business climbed 30 percent in the first quarter, she said.

 “We exceeded our goals and expectations in terms of written business," Dykstra said. “Our expectations for April are even higher.”

Sales data for the first two months of the year showed higher unit sales for houses and condos over 2009 totals. The dollar volume for the first two months is $63.9 million - $13.5 million over the previous year.

At Real Estate One’s Ann Arbor office, the net dollar volume generated was double the 2009 total, said manager Jeff Stabnau.

Fueling those numbers were the number of single-family homes sold through the office, he said.

“There’s a lot of optimism is the market,” he said. “Buyers, sellers, agents.”

That’s also true at Prudential Snyder and Co. in Ann Arbor, where owner Sharon Snyder says, “I can’t imagine that every Realtor hasn’t been busy.”

The market is good news for the real estate industry and for sellers who watched properties languish on the market over recent years as the buyer’s market took hold amid uncertainty and an inventory glut.

But prices are only slowly coming up - especially in areas outside of central Ann Arbor - so owners who are counting on a rebound in home values before they sell may have to stay on the sidelines.

Some other key elements of today’s local housing market at the close of the first quarter:

• Just over three weeks remain for buyers to get a written sales agreement in order to qualify for the federal tax credit of up to $8,000.

Last fall, the tax credit generated activity as the deadline approached.

This spring, that may not be as likely.

“There’s no indication there will be an extension,” Stabnau said.

• Lower priced homes are selling, given the activity from the frist-time buyer credit. But a home under $200,000 that’s been on the market for several months probably needs a price drop if it hasn’t sold.

Making a change “could get it sold by the end of April,” Dykstra said.

• Higher-priced homes still face some competition in many areas. But the “magic number” of what constitutes a higher price is moving up, too.

Today, Snyder said, “Anything in Ann Arbor that’s $300,000 or less is gone.”

• Days on market are falling in some communities: Ann Arbor averaged under 50 for both homes and condos so far this year. The pace is picking up in Ypsilanti, though prices are dropping further to make that happen. Saline and Dexter are still sluggish.

“We’ve had houses sell in two and three days, and that’s a dramatic departure from what we’ve been used to,” Stabnau said.

• Multiple offers are still a factor in the market - but they’re not pushing prices dramatically higher yet. And there’s a shortage of what brokers call “good inventory” that’s prepped and priced to sell.

• Short sales are an unknown factor, thanks to federal legislation taking effect this week that streamlines how lenders work with homeowners in default.

Many Realtors expect more short sales to come onto the market, but instead of buyers waiting months for responses to offers, the new expectation is that lenders and sellers will agree on a price ahead of time, reducing uncertainty and time between an offer and answer.

“It’s a big game-changer,” Snyder said, “possibly increasing the number of short sales coming onto the market.”

Paula Gardner is Business News Director of AnnArbor.com. Contact her at 734-623-2586 or by email. Sign up for the weekly Business Review newsletter, distributed every Thursday, here.