Glimmers of Housing Hope
by Evan Vanderwey on 10/10/11 at 6:00 am
Here’s some promising news: The National Association of Homebuilders Improving Markets Index nearly doubled this month. The NAHB’s IMI combines these three criteria: employment (from Bureau of Labor and Stats), housing price appreciation (Freddie Mac), and building permit activity (Census Bureau). The index measures metropolitan areas that have shown growth for at least six straight months.
Last month the list stood at 12 markets. This month it’s at 23. That’s a nice trend.
And the winners this month are…
• Alexandria, LA
• Amarillo, TX
• Anchorage, AK
• Bismarck, ND
• Casper, WY
• Fairbanks, AK
• Fayetteville, NC
• Houma, LA
• Iowa City, IA
• Jonesboro, AR
• Kankakee, IL
• McAllen, TX
• Midland, TX
• New Orleans, LA
• Odessa, TX
• Pine Bluff, AR
• Pittsburgh, PA
• Sherman, TX
• Sumter, SC
• Waco, TX
• Waterloo, IA
• Wichita Falls, TX
• Winston-Salem, NC
True, there’s no MI on this list, but as our cities go, eventually, so go the rest of us. So alluded NAHB Chairman Bob Nielsen when he said, “This is further evidence that despite the tough conditions that persist in many cities, pockets of improvement are emerging in local housing markets across the country.”
And those pockets will get bigger.
Areas of note on this list: Pittsburgh and New Orleans remain the largest (not most) improving markets; Texas is notable for its seven entries; Bangor, Maine was the only city to drop from the list, and that due to a decline in permits; and of course, as I pointed out earlier, none of those on the list are followed by MI. That’s ok. We can be happy for the rest of the nation for now.
It may be later than the rest, but Michigan’s time will come. You’ll see.
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