By Michelle Durham

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Ask any real estate agent and they’ll tell you the last couple of years have not been the easiest, but things are poised for change in the upcoming spring market.

Prudential Fox and Roach Real Estate Agent Mike McCann specializes in Center City.

“This is the first fall market we had since 2007. My business is up about 35 percent in sales volume. We’re starting to see prices are starting to come up.”

Across the bridge, associate broker for Coldwell Banker Preferred in Haddonfield, Janet Rossini says, “The stats from the past year show that sales in the three counties that we work with — Camden, Gloucester and Burlington Counties — are up an average of 12 to 18 percent.”

Now both say the pendulum is starting to swing back in favor of the seller, but an improved, clutter-free home is what buyers want. Not surprising, says Kevin Gillen of the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania.

“I still think there is a lot of pent-up demand out there from people who, during the recession and bust, either couldn’t buy a house or didn’t want to buy a house and they have been on the sidelines for the past five or six years.”