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Earlier this week, several sales market reports were released that generally show the market here in teh city is stable and continues to gain ground. But most of that data only reflects what sold and closed in the first quarter of this year and does not necessarily show the big picture for today.

"These sales they went into contract three to four months ago, so there is that lag. So if you really want to look what is going on in the market today you need to look at contracts data," says StreetEasy Vice President of Research Sofia Song.

So we looked at StreetEasy’s report that breaks down what’s gone in to contract since the first of the year -- so buyers and sellers know just where we are as we continue through this spring selling season.

"So the spring selling season got off to a great start. We’ve had just under 1,200 signed contracts, which is the most number of contracts we have had in any March since the bubble burst in 2008," notes Song.

In terms of areas, Lower Manhattan is seeing the most activity with close to 800 contracts signed this past quarter. But in terms of growth, Upper Manhattan - which they define as above 110th Street - had a 16 percent increase in the number of contracts signed from a year ago.

"Out of all the contracts signed this quarter 37 percent were for one bedrooms and 32 percent were for two bedrooms," says Song. "But when you wanna look at it in terms of growth in contracts, studios were the strongest. They had a 19 percent increase in the number of signed contracts since a year ago."

Song says this is a sign that the entry level market is quite strong and that low interest rates are drawing people in. The luxury market, on the other hand - which was so hot a few quarters ago - saw a 12 percent drop in the number of contracts signed for homes priced at $3 million and up.

The report also finds homes are moving quickly. The average time on the market dropped five percent from where it was a year ago and inventory is also down by five percent.

So if you break it down by the contracts data, you can see a pretty active market. March is only the beginning of the season, so we’ll have to wait and see if this upward trend continues.