A somewhat slow but increasingly steady United States housing recovery seems to be gaining some traction. Last week, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that the sales of new homes nationwide rose 1.9 percent from the month of October and almost 10 percent compared to November of 2010.

The annualized rate of 315,000 is still well below what’s considered healthy, but the uptick is a good sign considering the other gains real estate has made recently. Those gains include a 12 percent year-over-year increase in existing home sales in November and an increase in homebuilding of about 21 percent compared to the same period last year.

The sales of new homes and housing start numbers are particularly important because they most often reflect the state of any overall economical recovery. New homes mean jobs, which are key to both housing markets and the overall shape of the economy. Typically, construction is one of the key components in recovering from a recession, but that has not been the case with the last one.

Outside of home sales figures, the national unemployment rate dipping to 8.5 percent and mortgage rates hitting record lows in December are also good signs for