A Housing Market Bright Spot: The Quad Cities

Cheryl Corley:

For months, the news about the country's housing market has been gloomy. But that's slowly starting to change. The latest figures show pending home sales are on the rise, and some real estate bright spots are popping up as the prices of homes for sale rebound.

One of those spots is the Quad Cities region of Illinois and Iowa.

The Quad Cities is somewhat of a misnomer: It's actually five main cities that make up the region -- Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa and Rock Island, Moline and East Moline in Illinois. They hug the state line at the Mississippi River.

Like many other parts of the country, the Quad Cities region has weathered some tough patches in the housing market. But Realtor Caroline Ruhl says during March and April, her company sold nearly a third more homes than it did a year ago. She attributes the jump in part to pent-up demand after six months of inactivity.