Evidence of the housing sector’s revival is everywhere. Recently, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) released its American Improving Markets Index for August where one quarter of all U.S. metros featured on the improving list.
“The fact that we continue to see a strong core of metros showing up on the improving list each month adds to the growing evidence that the emerging housing recovery has a solid foundation on which to build as housing returns to its traditional role of driving economic growth,” said NAHB’s chief economist David Crowe in a statement.
The index is designed to track housing markets throughout the country that show signs of improving economic health. Metropolitan areas that have shown improvement from their respective troughs in housing permits, employment and house prices for at least six consecutive months find a place on the list.
In terms of price, Victoria, Phoenix and Joplin are the top three cities that managed to make considerable improvement. Victoria recorded a 13.5 percent growth rate from the trough whereas Phoenix and Joplin recorded 12 percent and 11.9 percent respectively.
“The list of improving housing markets in August includes metros across every region of the country, all of which have distinctly different characteristics in terms of their economic and employment bases as well as other factors,” said Barry Rutenberg, chairman of the NAHB in the statement. “One thing that most markets have in common, however, is the tight lending environment for both builders and buyers that continue to drag on their positive momentum.”
Builder Confidence Continues
Meanwhile, builders confidence in the market continues with demand for single-family homes improving for a fourth consecutive month in August with a two-point gain on the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). This gain builds on a six-point increase in July and brings the index to its highest level since February of 2007, a press release stated.
“From the builder’s perspective, current sales conditions, sales prospects for the next six months and traffic of prospective buyers are all better than they have been in more than five years,” said Rutenberg in a statement. “While there is still much room for improvement, we have come a long way from the depths of the recession and the outlook appears to be brightening.”
