The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reports a total of 80 housing markets in their First American Improving Markets Index (IMI) monthly survey for August. Identifying areas based on housing permits, employment statistics, and house prices for six consecutive months, the index noted 75 markets that have remained on the list, nine areas that have fallen from the list, and five new ones that have shown significant improvement—Lubbock, Texas, Terre Haute, Indiana, Hinesville, Georgia, and Miami and Palm Beach, Florida. As MHProNews has learned, the survey indicates improving trends across all regions of the country. As NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe says, “The fact that we continue to see a strong core of metros showing up on the improving list each month adds to the growing evidence that the emerging housing recovery has a solid foundation on which to build as housing returns to its traditional role of driving economic growth.”
