Maybe the housing bubble won't "burst" after all.

This after more news from the real estate sector, where the U.S. Commerce Department reports that  Sales of new U.S. homes rose 16.2 percent in April, the sharpest climb in 15 years, while prices fell a record 11 percent. 

Are we seeing a 'rebound" effect, where lower home prices are luring buyers back into the market in droves -- a trend that seems to be backed by the Commerce Dept. report?

It sure looks that way. 

According to Commerce, new single-family home sales rose to an annual rate of 981,000 units from a revised rate of 844,000 in March. Wall Street analysts were expecting April sales to rise to an 860,000 unit pace from a previously reported rate of 858,000 units in March. In April, the median sales price of a new home fell $28,500 to $229,100 from $257,600 in March. There were 538,000 new homes for sale in April, a fall from the 546,000 reported in March. It would take 6.5 months to clear that inventory at the current sales pace, less than the 8.1 months recorded in March.

Later today we should get another bellwether indicator on the future of the U.S. housing market. Existing home sales, which represent 85 percent of the housing market, should rise as well.  According to a report this morning from Reuters, analysts are expecting April existing home sales to rise to 6.14 million unit pace from the 6.12 million in March.

If that comes to pass, then we should expect to see a reduction in the "doom and gloom" bubble-burst stories coming from the U.S. media. It's about time.

I still can't figure out how severe our housing "bubble" is. If you can, please let me know.

I was visiting a client in Portland, Oregon this week who helped me shed some new light on the housing picture. This guy builds beach front properties near Newport, on Oregon's gorgeous coastline, about two hours west of Portland (if you ever get the chance to visit, I recommend it).

We visited his new development of 61 homes that aren't even built yet, but are already sold out. There were plenty of "Sold" signs in and around Portland, too. Bubble? Not in Oregon there isn't.

So naturally, when I get back, one of the first bits of economic news I get, this from Reuters this morning, is that U.S. foreclosure rates hit new heights in the first quarter of 2007. The good news is that late payments fell during the same period, (Reuters reports this news using data from the National Mortgage Association).

According to the NMA, the rate of loans entering the foreclosure process was 0.58 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, or more than one out of 200 loans and 4 basis points higher than the previous quarter. The rate rose 17 basis points from a year ago. In addition, the delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one-to four-unit residential properties stood at 4.84 percent of all loans outstanding in the first quarter on a seasonally adjusted basis, down 11 basis points from the fourth quarter and up 43 basis points from a year ago.

"The rate of delinquencies is being driven by what is taking place in seven states," Douglas Duncan, the MBA's chief economist, said in a statement. "The percentage of loans in foreclosure would be well below the average of the last 10 years were it not for Ohio, Michigan and Indiana, and the rate of foreclosures started nationwide would have fallen were it not for the big jumps in California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona. Those states have special circumstances that do not reflect what is happening in the rest of the country," he adds.

But I did find an interesting wrinkle at the bottom of the story. Foreclosures, it seems, are like my golf game -- hot in some spots and cold in others. Reuters reports that foreclosures are down in 24 states. And, relating to my Oregon visit, west coast states like Oregon, California, and Arizona are some of the coldest real estate markets in the country.

But that's not I'm seeing with my own eyes.

So maybe the Reuter's business writers need to get on a flight to Oregon.