What real estate agents and loan officers have been saying for months is finally starting to show up in hard data: Local homes are selling at a torrid pace.

Fueled by low interest rates and an $8,000 tax credit for first-time buyers, the local real estate market roared back to life in the second quarter of 2009.

Doug Rotthaus, executive vice president of the Realtors Association of Lincoln, said second-quarter home sales were the fourth-best on record for that period, trailing only the second quarters from 2003, 2004, 2005, the peak of the local housing boom.

"We're really happy about that," Rotthaus said. "That's a really good sign."

For the year, home sales are now up slightly over 2008, with 1,763 closed sales, compared with 1,750 during the same period last year.

That makes Lincoln's market better off than those in Omaha, Des Moines, Iowa, or Sioux Falls, S.D., where home sale totals continue to be lower than last year's.

And Lincoln's rebound looks like it will continue for awhile. Pending sales (home sales under contract but not yet finalized) hit 442 in June, the highest number for the month since 2005, Rotthaus said. In fact, pending sales for the whole second quarter were the highest since 2005.

"Without a doubt," a big factor driving home sales is the $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers, he said.

According to data from the Realtors Association, there were 1,219 homes sold locally in the $159,000 and under price range - considered "starter homes" - a more than 5 percent increase from the same period last year.

"That $8,000 credit has helped immensely," said Julie McManaman, an assistant broker with Home Real Estate and president of the Realtors Association.

"It's actually become a seller's market in the lower price ranges," she said.

One place it's not a seller's market - or a buyer's market, either - is in the market for new homes.

Sales of new homes continue to lag, down more than 20 percent for the year compared with 2008, and down more than 15 percent year-over-year in the second quarter. The median price for new homes has also dropped more than 7 percent compared with the first half of last year.

McManaman called the new home sales numbers "pretty darn scary."

She cited a host of factors, including competition from the inventory of existing homes and the lack of building.

There were only 198 permits taken out for single-family homes through the first six months of the year, nearly 20 percent fewer than in the same period last year, and less than a quarter of the 851 permits taken out in the first six months of 2003, when the housing boom was taking off.

The weakness in sales of new homes is "still a huge concern with our industry," McManaman said.

"We've got to figure out how to get these new home sales back up and help our builders."

As bad as things are in the new home market, even that segment is showing some bright spots.

In the starter home range (homes $159,000 and under) there were 58 sales in the first half of 2009, up from 53 in that price range in the first six months of 2008.

And there were 60 single-family building permits taken out in June, the highest monthly total in two years.

In the Homebuilder's Association of Lincoln's July newsletter, President Mike Benker called the permit numbers "dismal," but he said home builders and remodelers remain "very optimistic" about their future.

Realtors remain optimistic that the uptick in home sales is part of a trend, although McManaman said she worries what will happen when the tax credit expires at the end of November.

"Our understanding is there's not a lot of hope of extending (the tax credit) now," she said.

Rotthaus said that's all the more reason for potential buyers to take the leap and buy a home now.

Since it can take about 60 days to close on a home sale, he said, that leaves a little more than two months to buy a home and still feel safe that the deal will close by the Nov. 30 cutoff for the tax credit.

"It provides a bit of urgency," he said.

Reach Matt Olberding at 473-2647 or molberding@journalstar.com.