MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - Some people are a little more optimistic about the housing market in comparison to the past years.

President of the Greens at Walnut Hills Homeowners Association, Jim Bartow said he's "Very optimistic based upon interest level and sales."

"It was reported that 59 new building permits in the Township versus the 12 of last year," said Bartow.

Xavier Durand-Hollis the president of Banyon Park Homeowners Association said, "You can also tell a little bit by the assessed values, they had been increasing then they started decreasing and now they've kind of flattened out a little bit so that's a good sign as well."

Foreclosures have impacted many in the state, but there has been a recent decline.

"The good news about foreclosures is that has noticeably slowed down," said William MacLeod, the president of Coldwell Banker Hubbell BriarWood.

"Our neighborhood usually doesn't have any or very few foreclosures and there was a period there where maybe two or three a few years ago," said Durand-Hollis. "I've been the president now for three years and the last year was one of the first years where everything seemed to work out pretty well, there were no foreclosures, they're relatively rare to begin with, but I think last year we either didn't have any or had one."

"It's been a buyer's market for quite some time, I think it still is, interest rates are still low, but the rates are creeping up. I think that's part of the reason you're seeing more sales," said Bartow. "Prices are increasing, of course the national averages are up 10-12% and the East Lansing area is doing pretty well."

"There is no indication that is, on a national scale, even an international scale, that indicates that there's any reason that this growth should stop," said MacLeod.