Stacy Innerst, Post-Gazette Click illustration for larger image. Local home sales by the numbers

For months now, the big news in housing has been bad news: Prices and sales are dropping, interest rates and inventory are rising. Pundits and prognosticators joust over whether the slowdown should be described as a "bust" or a "soft landing."

Either way, Mary Eve Kearns, an agent in the Peters office of Howard Hanna, will hear none of it.

Local home sales through June, the most recent period for which figures are available, were up slightly from a year ago in the seven counties that make up the Pittsburgh metropolitan statistical area, and prices were up nearly 6 percent on average, according to the West Penn Multi List, which tracks area sales. In the territory served by Ms. Kearns' office, a broad suburban corridor that runs from Bethel Park and South Fayette down to Washington, Pa., things are even better.

"This whole area is total growth," she said.

The southwestern suburbs make up one of three areas that continue to lead the region in both new construction and new buyers. North of the city, Cranberry, Adams and Mars have been experiencing steady growth. And to the southeast, new developments in North Huntingdon swell the ranks of commuters along the Route 30 corridor.

In Peters, township building inspector William Muzzey said housing starts increased "almost every year" for five years before pulling back this year. But even with the pullback, sales are up for Ms. Kearns and her colleagues.

Office manager Chris Popko said that year-to-date sales are running 18 percent ahead of last year, which was itself a record year. Some homes, such as a four-bedroom Cape Cod in nearby Nottingham that Ms. Kearns had listed at $329,900, have sold in as little as three days.

Ms. Kearns said two groups of buyers are driving the growth. In the first group are professionals relocating from the New York/northern New Jersey area. These immigrants to Pittsburgh are typically dual-income families who discover that "if they live here, they don't have to be dual-income."

The second group consists of returning expatriates, especially entrepreneurs who have made their money in places such as Florida and California.

"They've said you have to leave Pittsburgh in order to appreciate it," Ms. Kearns said.

And part of what they appreciate is that, upon returning from overheated housing markets, Pittsburgh homes seem positively cheap. The median price for homes in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area in the April-June quarter was $120,300, about a fifth of the Los Angeles median price of $576,300.

"I've actually had people say to me, 'Do you mind if we pay cash?' " Ms. Kearns said, laughing.

Mary Ann Brettell, an agent in Howard Hanna's Cranberry office, said that homes in the northern suburbs are remaining on the market 20 to 30 days longer than they did last year, but still selling at a nice pace, especially in the township next door.

"Adams Township has been very hot," Ms. Brettell said.

Adams building inspector Gary Peaco confirms that evaluation.

"Last year was probably the second highest year in the last 10 years" for new construction, he said, "and I'm on pace to match that this year."

In 2005, Mr. Peaco's office issued permits for 240 new housing units, well above the average of 210 to 220 a year. As of July of this year, 154 permits had been issued.

He credits the growth primarily to buyers continuing to seek relief from Allegheny C ounty taxes. Butler County's tax rate of 27.5 mills is much higher than Allegheny County's 4.69 mills, but residents there can have smaller tax bills for two reasons: First, property assessments are based on 1969 market values; and second, taxes are calculated at 75 percent of assessed value rather than full assessed value.

For example, a $500,000 home in Allegheny County would be assessed at $500,000, and would generate a county tax bill of $2,345 -- 4.29 times $500 (1 mill equals $1 for every $1,000, so 4.29 mills would be $4.29 for every $1,000). In Butler County, that same home, assessed as if had been built in 1969, might have a market value of $60,000, and an assessment of $45,000, said Butler County director of property and revenue Ed Rupert.

Based on that assessment, the resulting county tax bill would be $1,238.

With an estimated 28,000 residents, Cranberry is "starting to get full," Mr. Peaco said, so Adams, which still has land available for development, has become the logical next choice for developers and buyers.

Both Mr. Peaco and Ms. Brettell said that the completion of the new Pennsylvania Turnpike/Interstate 79 interchange has also helped.

Homes in the area are not cheap, with townhouses running $250,000 to $300,000, and the average single-family home being priced between $500,000 and $600,000. But rather than deterring buyers, the luxury homes are attracting those who are moving up from smaller homes. Ms. Bettrell said those make up about half of her buyers these days; the other half are people relocating from other cities.

Even rising interest rates aren't damaging all home sales. Ms. Brettell said that while interest rate increases have helped to slow sales in the $300,000 to $600,000 range, they have had the opposite effect on sales of homes priced at more than $600,000.

"It doesn't affect the high-end buyers as much," she said. "If anything, it spurs them to move before it goes higher."

Just across the southeastern border of Allegheny County, North Huntingdon, long a steady grower, continues to expand.

Township senior planner Ryan Fonzi said that in the first sixth months of this year, 91 permits were issued for single-family homes, setting a pace that if sustained would result in an 10 percent increase over last year's total of 168. By contrast, North Huntingdon added about 110 houses per year in the decade prior to 2005.

That would pretty well match the pace of activity at the North Huntingdon office of Coldwell Banker, said George Hackett, president of the realty giant's 15 Pittsburgh-area offices. Last year, the office listed 285 homes and closed 330 sales; it is now on track to list 310 homes this year, and Mr. Hackett projected a 5 to 6 percent increase in sales.

The increase is not just in the number of units listed or sold. Tracey Downs, an agent at Coldwell Banker's North Huntingdon office, said that in the past year average prices for new homes in the area have risen from the $150,000 to $200,000 range to the $225,000 to $250,000 range. And some of the newer developments feature homes priced upward of $350,000.

"That just seems to be the trend in the new construction," she said. "It's just getting bigger and bigger."

Mr. Hackett doesn't anticipate a slowdown any time soon.

"I think that is going to be a growth area in the future," he said. "It still has a lot of land out there. There are developers that are interested in building out there because it's still close to everything."

The spokes of Route 30 and the Parkway East do indeed make for an easy commute to many destinations. But North Huntingdon, like Peters, Cranberry and Adams, is just beyond the Allegheny County line, a point not lost on buyers.

"Taxes are something that's always on the front burner," Mr. Hackett said.

Like Butler County, Westmoreland County has a higher tax rate than Allegheny County, but calculates taxes based on a smaller assessment. The tax rate is 20.99 mills, but properties are assessed at 20.5 percent of their market value. So the county tax bill for a $500,000 house there would be $2,151 -- not nearly as low as Butler County's, but still lower than Allegheny County's.

Of course, the hodgepodge of municipalities surrounding Pittsburgh means that home buyers need to factor in a range of municipal and school taxes when deciding where to live. But apparently more and more are deciding that the total tax burden is less painful outside Allegheny County than inside.

Compared with sections of New York, Los Angeles and Miami that saw prices double or even triple during the five-year real estate boom (or bubble -- take your pick), even Pittsburgh's hot spots are experiencing moderate growth. But that makes the region less susceptible to dramatic downturns as well -- including the current reversal that has sellers in those cities offering discounts and perks. Time and again, real estate professionals characterize the local market as "stable."

That term would hardly describe the housing picture being drawn by national statistics. In its latest monthly report, the U.S. Department of Commerce said new home sales in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.07 million, down 21.6 percent from a year ago. The national median sales price of $230,000 was virtually unchanged from last July's $229,200, and the inventory of homes on the market, 568,000, represented a 6 1/2 month supply, up 54.8 percent from a year ago.

With such figures dominating national news and commentary, perhaps it is no wonder that Ms. Kearns says that the biggest challenge she faces while having her best year in 16 years as an agent, is "overcoming the negative media, especially the morning news shows."

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COUNTY	HOMES SOLD	% CHANGE	DOLLAR VALUE (IN MILLIONS)
				% CHANGE
Allegheny	12,920	+1.88%	1,022.2	+2.41
Armstrong	261	+40.32%	15.26	+36.94
Beaver	1,281	-4.62%	90.29	+4.58
Butler	1,679	-4.17%	207.46	+1.27
Fayette	124	-8.82%	8.42	+32.63
Washington	1,781	+1.14%	159.46	+4.20
Westmoreland	2,505	-3.43	238.95	+2.70
TOTAL	20,551	+0.47	1,742.54	+5.87

Note: Numbers are through June 30, and percent change is from the same period in 2005.