The number of improving housing markets in the U.S. rose to reach 263 in June, according to the "The First American Improving Markets Index" (IMI) of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).
NAHB releases a monthly report of the number and rate of improving property markets in the country. It analyzes metropolitan cities from all the 50 states of America and the District of Columbia through the IMI. The index tracks the cities on the basis of construction employment, housing permits and home prices for the previous six months in the region.
According to the report, 29 new cities were added to the list of improving markets. The new additions include Salinas, Baton, Topeka, Philadelphia and Iowa. The surge comes after a slight dip in May when 19 existing cities were dropped from the list. Conditions remained grim in April too.
This increase comes as positive news for the housing market. Experts believe that the surge is a sign of consistent growth in the sector. The figure of June 2013 is more than thrice the index recorded a year ago.
However, 24 markets were dropped from the list including Montgomery, Bloomington, Hickory, Columbia, New Haven and Hartford. The exit of these cities was attributed to slight seasonal changes in the market.
"As market conditions improve across most of the country, some metros have moved onto the IMI list while marginal seasonal fluctuations have nudged others off of it. This is to be expected as the recovery expands. Meanwhile, it's worth noting that the number of improving markets is now more than three times what it was in June 2012," David Crowe, Chief Economist at NAHB said in a statement.
Check out the complete list of improving housing markets and the growth trends, here.
The housing market is one of the major contributors to the improving economy of the U.S. According to a recent report by Seekingalpha.com, it was revealed that the real estate recovery and the strengthening stock market have increased the total value of household net worth in the country, by 9.6 percent from a year ago.
"The net worth of U.S. households -- the value of homes, stocks, bonds, savings accounts, and other investments minus household debt -- increased to $70.35 trillion in the first quarter. That's an increase of $6.2 trillion, and 9.6%, from the same quarter in 2012."
Read more on the U.S. household net worth, here.
