Lead Balloon Silver Lining?

The sales figures and the seismic shift downward had me digging deeper today into the market figures.  Here are some remarkable statistics I just pulled from the MLS:

Looking at the normal Listings-to-Sales ratio puts our inventory up in the stratosphere.  However, I did a check on homes that are under contract.  Amazingly, the number of homes under contract in most cities are nearly TWICE what sales were over the last 30 days!  That is quite remarkable.  Also to add some twist to this large number is that only 3 out of 5 of the homes currently under contract were put so in the last 30 days.  That tells me that contracts are taking longer than the normal 30 day time frame to close.  Perhaps lender delays are slowing things down?  Or seller delays?  I would believe both. 

Are we going to have a surge of sales in the near future?  Or, are these slow contracts just going to drag on and slowly trickle into closed sales?  Regardless, these figures provide encouragement.