Local mortgage lenders, home-owning educators and Realtors say the local housing market is really picking up thanks to low interest rates and stabilizing home prices, which is a good sign for the overall local economy.

Workers’ Credit Union was named the No. 1 mortgage lender of 2012 for the market it serves in North Central Massachusetts by Banker & Tradesman, according to Gordon Wetmore, senior vice president of marketing.

In the 30 major communities WCU serves, it closed 1,194 mortgage, refinancing and home-equity loans, he said, about 70 percent of which were in Fitchburg, Leominster and the immediately surrounding towns.