I never thought of the word ‘normal’ as comforting before. But as it applies to today’s Real Estate market, ‘normal’ is a virtual security blanket for Realtors, home sellers and buyers alike. The statistics in the article below illustrate a Real Estate market that can easily be called normal, maybe even healthy. For comparison’s sake, the average or stable percentage increase in home prices has historically been from 7%, to somewhere under 10% in specific in-demand markets. In regards to the article’s referencing numbers remaining “off” from their previous high, we are all aware now if we weren’t then, that that high was falsely (dare we say fraudulently) inflated. ~Bill
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The U.S. housing market continues to improve as Florida and Arizona enter their outer range of stable housing activity, according to a recently released Freddie Mac Multi-Indicator Market Index® (MiMi®). The MiMi purchase applications indicator improved by nine percent, its best showing since September 2013.
The national MiMi value stands at 82.7, indicating a housing market that is on its outer range of stable housing activity, while showing an improvement of +0.51 percent from November to December and a three-month improvement of +1.70 percent. On a year-over-year basis, the national MiMi value has improved +7.65 percent. Since its all-time low in October 2010, the national MiMi has rebounded 40 percent, but remains significantly off from its high of 121.7.
Thirty-five of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia have MiMi values in a stable range, with the District of Columbia (102.5), North Dakota (96.7), Hawaii (96.2), Montana (95.6) and Utah (94) ranking in the top five. Compared to the same time last year, 20 states and the District of Columbia had MiMi values in a stable range.
Fifty-six of the 100 metro areas have MiMi values in a stable range, with Austin, TX (98.8), Denver, CO (98.3), Honolulu, HI (98.2), Salt Lake City, UT (97.4) and Los Angeles, CA (97.2) ranking in the top five. Compared to the same time last year, 28 of the top 100 metros had MiMi values in a stable range.
The most improving states month over month were Oregon (+1.66 percent), New Jersey (+1.62 percent), Arizona (+1.39 percent), Florida (+1.39 percent) and Missouri (+1.25 percent). On a year-over-year basis, the most improving states were Florida (+16.59 percent), Oregon (+15.64 percent), Colorado (+14.09 percent), Washington (+12.58 percent) and Nevada (+12.54 percent).
The most improving metro areas month over month were Orlando, Fla. (+1.65 percent), Baton, Rouge, La. (+1.57 percent), Portland, Ore. (+1.52 percent), Palm Bay, Fla. (+1.48) and Tampa, Fla. (+1.40 percent). On a year-over-year basis, the most improving metro areas were Orlando, Fla. (+20.33 percent), Cape Coral, Fla. (+19.16 percent), Tampa, Fla. (+18.51 percent), Portland, Ore (+18.20 percent) and Denver, Colo. (+17.72).
In December 2015, 45 of the 50 states and 86 of the top 100 metros were showing an improving three-month trend. The same time last year, 19 of the 50 states, and 49 of the top 100 metro areas were showing an improving three-month trend.
“At the start of 2015, MiMi showed the national housing market in a weak position, but by the end of the year it posted a reading of 82.7, which is just inside the stable range of housing activity,” says Freddie Mac Deputy Chief Economist Len Kiefer. “This is good news for the nation’s housing market but there is certainly more work to be done. One encouraging sign is that not only are purchase applications solidly up, but borrowers being current on their mortgage strongly improved as well. The Current on Mortgage indicator also moved from a ‘weak’ to ‘in-range’. And of course what’s really anchoring this recovering housing market is the improving employment picture, which is giving more people the confidence to purchase a home, including first-time homebuyers. In fact, Freddie Mac made home possible for more than 230,000 first-time homebuyers last year, the most since 2007.”
For more information, visit www.freddiemac.com.
Reprinted with permission from RISMedia. ©2016. All rights reserved.
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