Reports from the first days of November show that the housing market is still on shaky ground. According to the statistics from ForeclosureDataonline.com, real estate prices on the whole are down already for the first three days of November as compared with October's average. The foreclosure market appears strong however. It grew over this same period and shows the kind of steady growth that is apt to continue.

The biggest increase in foreclosure sale prices was here in Arizona where the average foreclosure sale price is up 15.51% for the first three days of November at $285,257 compared with $246,944 for all of October. Other states saw more modest increases including: California, which had a 1.83% increase from $356,608 to $363,133; Nevada, which had a 1.45% increase from $306,505 to $310,943; Texas, which had a 1.27% increase from $132,443 to $134,125; and Florida, which had a 1.05% increase from $228,602 to $230,995.

Also important to note is the ForeclosureDataonline.com statistics that show that foreclosure prices were only down in three states when comparing the early November average to the October average. Maine saw a -1.88% change in average foreclosure sale price from $116,742 to $114,547. West Virginia saw a smaller -0.72% change from $108,801 to $108,022 from October to November. Finally, Washington State saw a -0.6% change from 284,742 to $283,037 by the beginning of November.

The overall increase in foreclosure sale prices nationwide can be attributed to a certain degree to the smaller number of houses in that market as the rate of foreclosure slows. Foreclosure sales also appear to be an excellent investment as prices are still below fair market value and are climbing every month.