Aug. 4--The real estate market isn't cured yet, but several indicators suggest that it is beginning that long, slow and greatly anticipated climb out of intensive care.

If so -- and if the patterns continue -- the market here could stabilize, finally reversing the decline that has marked the capital region as one of the worst-hit metro areas in the United States. Sacramento's ill-fated housing boom peaked four years ago this month when home values reached their zenith across much of the region -- and then started slipping backward.

Among positive June indicators that have fueled relatively upbeat news in recent days are those that show greater-than-expected U.S. construction activity, especially in the home building sector.

-- Even in the capital region, home builders are doing better -- starting 374 houses, apartments and condos in June. That was 122 more than in May, the California Building Industry reported.

-- Statewide, home builders started 17 percent more dwellings in June than in May, and reported the most construction starts for single-family homes in almost a year, according to the CBIA.

Analysts have warned these improved housing indicators look good primarily because of the ferocity of the real estate downturn. Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman referred to the indicators Monday on National Public Radio as "just the first glimmer of hope" and warned the economy will remain weak for an extended time.

Foreclosure activity that has saddled the capital region with 41,900 home repossessions since 2007, as well as an 11.6 percent unemployment rate in the state and the region, still applies brakes to excess enthusiasm about the economy.

In Sacramento "we have a lot more decompressing to do," added Sanjay Varshney, dean of the College of Business Administration at California State University, Sacramento. "Normally, I would have said we would have defined a bottom, too, later this year or early next year. I think for us the challenge is the government layoffs have just begun.

"We might be looking at our cycle to be pushed out compared to the national cycle," he said.

Yet, rising construction numbers -- even if well below the same time last year -- are steering developers and builders into new land deals. One Sacramento-based development operation bought 800 home lots in Reno last week in anticipation of an upturn.

"We're really seeing enthusiasm on the part of builders that we haven't seen in a few years," said Douglas Mull, vice president for land acquisition in Northern California and Nevada for the Lewis Group of Companies of Upland.