On the heels of the announcement that housing starts nationwide had plunged in January, a local analysis reports that new home sales in January 2014 were down 22% from January 2013. In addition, permits were off 26% from the same month a year ago.

The 401 sales and 450 permits last month, though lower than a year ago, are still higher than any January since the onset of the recession.

Despite the slump, sales and permits still were higher than the January figures from 2009 to 2012, when the valley’s new-home market was at its worst after the economy crashed, Home Builders Research President Dennis Smith said in his report.

Moreover, prices continue to climb. The median sales price last month was $300,000, up 36 percent from a year earlier.

Another report reveals Las Vegas had the 2nd-highest increase in median home value in the nation over the year ended January 2014.

The median value of local homes in January was $168,800, up 0.7 percent from December and 26.9 percent from January 2013, according to a new report from housing-data firm Zillow.

The annual gain was second fastest among the 35 metro areas covered in the report. Riverside, Calif., was No. 1 at 27.3 percent.

Nationally, home values rose 6.3 percent in the past year.

Even with some of the news on the local economy a little more negative than it has been in the last year, optimism is definitely not in short supply.