Inside Report (5)

Home sales may not be booming, but at least they're headed up.

Seasonally adjusted government figures show sales of new single-family homes in November improved 11.3 percent over the previous month, the second straight monthly gain of more than 10 percent.

True, the November rate was still 28 percent under the year before and sales of existing homes fell slightly in November. Some real estate economists, accordingly, describe the late 1981 gains as very slim indeed. But National Association of Realtors economist Jack Carlson has hailed falling interest rates as a signal of the end of the recession and the start of ''brighter days'' for home sales.

The future depends heavily on which way interest rates go. Most predictions are for sales to continue at a moderate pace at least through spring.m