Housing markets have been improving across all the states in the U.S., according to a recent survey conducted by Freddie Mac, the government backed lending giant.
The Freddie Mac Multi-indicator Market Index survey (MiMi), is a monthly report that maps the housing market growth. The survey made its debut in March 2014. In the recent survey, the firm found that more than 50 percent of the major metropolitan areas showed a steady growth in February. Growth in 11 states in the country including the District of Columbia remained stable.
While the improvement was evident, the survey found that the pace of growth had slowed down a little. The MiMi index value in February was -3.11, down 0.03 points from January's index. But the reading was 0.67 points more on a year over year basis proving the stability.
Top 5 Performing States:
- South Carolina (+0.14)
- Louisiana (+0.7),
- Ohio (+0.07),
- Tennessee (+0.05)
- Nevada (+0.07)
Top 5 Performing Metropolitan Areas:
- Charlotte (+0.10)
- Columbus (+0.09)
- Nashville (+0.07)
- New Orleans (+0.07)
- Las Vegas (+0.05), Memphis (+0.05) and Miami (+0.05)
"Despite a slowdown over the winter months, the housing market continues to show improvement in most states, although at a somewhat slower pace," Frank Nothaft, chief economist said in an official statement.
"And while not all the MiMi indicators are trending in a better direction - in particular, home-purchase applications have weakened in many areas - gains in local employment and loan performance have really helped many markets across the country, especially those that were hardest hit. Outside of these areas, we also are seeing positive improvement from the Carolinas and Tennessee as their local unemployment rates fall further," he added.
Experts believe that the housing uptrend will continue in the coming months, especially as market factors like demand, prices and low mortgage rates keep fueling the growth. Other economic parameters like unemployment levels and consumer confidence are also giving the property segment a boost, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).
"As unemployment comes down and credit availability eases, Millennials (the 25-34 age group) will feel better about their economic circumstances. I think we will see the shared household rate come down, less doubling up and a pickup in household formations," Maury Harris, managing director and chief U.S. economist at UBS told the NAHB.
