According to the National Association of Home Builders and the First American Improving Markets Index (IMI) for August, there have been vast improvements in the housing markets of 80 metropolitan areas. Statistics are taken in these cities across 32 states plus the District of Columbia. The index identifies metropolitan areas that improved in areas such as housing permits, employment, and housing prices for at least six consecutive months. 75 of the metros remained in their respective places on the list from the previous report. There were five new ones that were added and nine that fell from the list because of changes in housing prices. Keep in mind that all of these different metro areas have different characteristics in terms of the condition of their economy and their employment situations. The one thing that most of the markets have in common, though, is the newly enforced strict lending practices that is slightly hindering both builders and buyers. The IMI tracks the markets by measuring employment growth, house price appreciation and housing permit growth. They use the latest available data and measure it on three different occasions to get an accurate overview. In order for a metropolitan area to show improvement, all three of those measurements must improve statistically for at least six months. The index has confirmed that metros are growing increasingly stronger and the economy is stabilizing.
