At the beginning of February the weather has broken, at least for a while. January was cold and snowy. Reports in the local newspaper indicate that unemployment in the county has risen to over 9% with the closing of Bloomfield Refinery and the continued slow down in the oil and gas fields in the area. MLS statistics indicate that in 2009 there were 600 listings active in January while this year there were 642, about a 7% increase. In 2009 there wre 35 sales closed in January while in 2010 only 24 sales closed indicating a 31% decrease year over year. The average sales price was down about 2% from $209,048 to 204,328 as the list price to sales price ratio declined from 99% to 97%. Clean well located houses under $500,000 are still selling but buyers are skimming the cream of the market off the top.