Number of Improving Housing Markets Expands

Washington, DC, Feb. 8, 2013 -- The number of improving housing markets continued to expand for a sixth consecutive month to a total of 259 metropolitan areas on the National Association of Home Builders/First American Improving Markets Index for February.

This is up from 242 markets listed as improving in January, and includes entrants from all 50 states and the District of the Columbia.

The IMI identifies metro areas that have shown improvement from their respective troughs in housing permits, employment and house prices for at least six consecutive months.

“Just over 70 percent of the 361 metros covered by the IMI are listed as improving this month,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe.

“That’s a far cry from when we initiated this index with just 12 improving metros in September of 2011 for the purpose of highlighting places that didn’t fit the mold of the national headlines. Today, the story is about how widespread the recovery has become as conditions steadily improve in markets nationwide.”


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