A total of 255 metropolitan housing markets across 49 states and the District of Columbia have remained on the National Association of Home Builders/First American Improving Markets Index (IMI) for July, down from the 263 areas that ranked in June, but over three times the number listed in July 2012. Based on continued improvements in housing permits, employment and house prices for six consecutive months, NAHB Chairman Rick Judson says, “This is the sixth straight month in which at least 70 percent of all U.S. metros have qualified for the Improving Markets Index. The relative stability of the IMI is representative of the broad recovery underway, which is much more extensive than what we were looking at one year ago.” NAHB’s Chief Economist David Crowe expects expansion of the housing market to continue through the year despite shortages of labor, lots, credit and some building materials, as MHProNews has learned.
