Jun. 3--After what one local real estate broker called a "gruesome" winter, pending sales of existing homes in Clark County are improving as low interest rates and incentives spur buyer confidence.

Pending sales in the county grew 17.4 percent in April, well ahead of the 6.7 percent national increase for the same month that was reported Tuesday by the National Association of Realtors.

"Our office is up about 50 percent from the first two months of the year," said Gene Thompson, owner-broker of Equity Northwest Properties in Vancouver. "We saw a sharp jump in March, with April consistent with that for pending sales."

Nationally, the number of U.S. home-buyers who agreed to buy a previously occupied home took the largest monthly jump in nearly eight years in April, the Associated Press reported. Home sales appear likely to head upward this summer, potentially to levels not seen since the stock market collapsed last autumn.

But dangers lurk with prices expected to remain weak or decline well into next year as markets deal with layoffs, foreclosures and bank-approved short sales. Rising mortgage rates also could dampen any real estate recovery.

The Realtors association said Tuesday that its seasonally adjusted index of sales contracts signed in April surged 6.7 percent nationally, far exceeding analysts' forecasts. It was the biggest monthly jump since October 2001, when pending sales rose 9.2 percent.

Last month's boost likely reflects the impact of a new $8,000 tax credit for first-time home-buyers that was included in the economic stimulus bill signed by President Barack Obama in February. Since buyers need to complete their purchases by Nov. 30 to claim the credit, "we expect greater activity in the months ahead," Lawrence Yun, the Realtors' chief economist, said in a statement.

Typically there is a one- to two-month lag between a contract and a done deal, so the index is a barometer for future existing home sales.

Suzanne Oaks, managing broker with John L. Scott Real Estate in Vancouver, said the energy began to return to her office in April.

"We've started seeing people (buyers) in here again," Oaks said. "It's still tough ... you still have to work to make a sale stick. Sellers are competing on price with short sales and foreclosures."

Brian Combs, co-owner of Keller Williams Realty Premier Partners in Vancouver, said pending sales now on the books at his office could make June the best month ever for his firm.

"The market we are in requires agents to do it differently than when times were good," Combs said.