The U.S. housing market is continuing to improve with one additional state — Missouri — entering its outer range of stable housing activity, as well as four more metro areas: Rochester, N.Y.; St. Louis, Mo.; Birmingham, Ala.; and Milwaukee, Wi. This news comes from Freddie Mac’s recently released Multi-Indicator Market Index® (MiMi®).
The national MiMi value stands at 82.5, indicating a housing market that is on its outer range of stable housing activity, while showing an improvement of +0.82 percent from October to November and a three-month improvement of +2.09 percent. On a year-over-year basis, the national MiMi value has improved +7.23 percent. Since its all-time low in October 2010, the national MiMi has rebounded 39 percent, but remains significantly off from its high of 121.7.
Thirty-three of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia have MiMi values in a stable range, with the District of Columbia (101), North Dakota (96.5), Hawaii (95.9), Montana (95.7) and Utah (93.3) ranking in the top five. Compared to the same time last year, 21 states and the District of Columbia had MiMi values in a stable range.
- Fifty-seven of the 100 metro areas have MiMi values in a stable range, with Austin, Texas (97.5), Fresno, Calif. (102.9), Honolulu, Hawaii (97.1), Salt Lake City, Utah (96.7) and Denver, Colo. (96.5) 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 (+2.04 percent), Colorado (+1.90 percent), Nevada (+1.88 percent), Florida (+1.66 percent) and Maine (+1.55 percent). On a year-over-year basis, the most improving states were Florida (+15.72 percent), Oregon (+14.03 percent), Colorado (+13.54 percent), Washington (+12.73 percent) and Nevada (+12.26 percent).
The most improving metro areas month-over-month were Orlando, Fla. (+2.21 percent), Denver, Colo. (+2.01 percent), Portland, Ore. (+2.00 percent), Albany, N.Y. (+1.87) and Phoenix, Ariz. (+1.86 percent). On a year-over-year basis, the most improving metro areas were Orlando, Fla. (+19.48 percent), Cape Coral, Fla. (+18.27 percent), Tampa, Fla. (+17.65 percent), Denver, Colo. (+16.97 percent) and Portland, Ore. (+16.54).
- In November, 49 of the 50 states and 95 of the top 100 metros were showing an improving three-month trend. The same time last year, 34 of the 50 states, and 69 of the top 100 metro areas were showing an improving three-month trend.
“We saw another strong year-over-year improvement at 7.23 percent in this month’s MiMi, the best 12-month showing in a year,” says Freddie Mac Deputy Chief Economist Len Kiefer. “The regional variation of housing activity continues to become more pronounced. For example, we’re still seeing declines in oil-dependent housing markets, whereas the hardest hit metros from the Great Recession continue to see some of the best improvement as they recover. And at the same time, other markets are seeing even stronger improvement because of robust home sales fueled by strong local economies that remain largely affordable for the typical homebuyer. And in the short-term, we expect homebuyer affordability to remain strong with mortgage rates continuing to look very attractive to prospective homebuyers.”
For more information, visit FreddieMac.com/mimi.
