Years of housing crisis-driven declines in home sales finally halted in 2011, with region Realtors selling slightly more homes than the previous year, according to year-end sales numbers from the Greater Northwest Indiana Association of Realtors.

Realtors in the five counties covered by the association sold 6,881 homes in 2011 as compared with 6,873 in 2010, an increase of just 0.1 percent. Although the increase is scant, it is being cautiously welcomed by Realtors, who had seen home sales decrease every year since 2007.

"I do think the economy, though it is still weak in general, has seen noticeable improvement, and consumers are noticing," said Peter Novak, CEO of the Greater Northwest Indiana Association of Realtors. "People are starting to take that plunge."

Home sales received a big boost in early 2010 as buyers sought to close deals to get in on expiring federal tax credits. When those ended, sales again began extending the decline that began in 2007. Through the first half of 2011, sales fell another 14.3 percent. But in July, sales were up 25 percent and they rose every month after that.

"We had about a year period where it was just ugly," Novak said.

Nationally, home sales ended the year on a rising note, with sales of existing homes of all types up 3.6 percent in December as compared with one year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors.

For all of 2011, U.S. existing home sales were up 1.7 percent with 4.26 million homes sold.

"The pattern of home sales in recent months demonstrates a market in recovery," said Lawrence Yun, National Association of Realtors chief economist. "Record low mortgage interest rates, job growth and bargain home prices are giving more consumers the confidence they need to enter the market."

Interest rates on conventional, fixed 30-year home loans fell to an average of 3.96 in December, their lowest on record, according to Freddie Mac.

The housing market still has a long way to go to crawl its way back to normalcy. The number of homes sold in Northwest Indiana in 2011 is 39.4 percent less than the 11,349 sold in 2006 at the peak of the housing boom, according to Greater Northwest Indiana Association of Realtors data.

In December, 561 existing single-family homes were sold in Northwest Indiana, as compared with 518 in December 2010, for an 8.3 percent increase. The Greater Northwest Indiana Association of Realtors covers sales in Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Jasper and Newton counties.

In Lake County, existing single-family home sales in December increased 19.3 percent. Lake County also had a healthy boost in selling prices, with the median selling price increasing 11 percent to $119,900.

In Porter County, existing single-family home sales were down 10.4 percent. But the median selling price was up 2.3 percent to $148,400.