The housing market is stronger today than at any point since the Great Recession and has made progress in several key areas after hitting bottom in 2009, Freddie Mac repoorts in a blog post looking at the state of the housing market heading into spring.

Home sales are up 13% since their low point and are predicted to rise about 3% in 2014, Freddie Mac reports.  The agency also reports that housing starts are up 50% since hitting bottom. Freddie Mac is predicting a nearly 20% increase in new-housing starts in 2014, "which will begin to help ease tight inventories in many markets."

Housing prices have also been on the upswing, about 16% higher than their bottom in 2009. Freddie Mac expects home values to continue to rise this year, but at a more moderate 5% pace. Freddie Mac is also forecasting mortgage rates to rise about a half-percentage point during the year to around a 5% average by the end of the year.