According to Freddie Mac, the nation's housing market is almost back to normal or, in Freddie's terms, "on the outer edge of its historic benchmark range of housing activity."
The study also found that Florida and many of its metro areas are improving quickly. The state came in second to Nevada as "most improved," and four metro areas made the top five for most improved month-to-month: Las Vegas, Palm Bay, Tampa, Orlando and Sarasota.
In Freddie Mac's list of metro areas most improved year-to-year, four Florida cities made the list: Orlando ranked first at No. 1, followed by Tampa, Chattanooga, Palm Bay and Lakeland.
Freddie gauges local and state markets through its Multi-Indicator Market Index (MiMi).
The national MiMi value stands at 85.7, indicating a housing market that's on the outer edge of its historic benchmark range of housing activity. Nationwide, the country saw a 1.05 percent improvement from July to August, and a three-month improvement of 1.22 percent.
On a year-over-year basis, the national MiMi value improved 5.44 percent. Since its all-time low in October 2010, the national MiMi has rebounded 43 percent, though it's still off its high of 121.7.
"The housing market is showing strength across the country, and the South continues to show some the biggest improvements, especially in Florida," says Freddie Mac Deputy Chief Economist Len Kiefer. "MiMi's purchase applications indicator is up more than 30 percent in Florida compared to last year."
MiMi overview
- 41 out of 50 states plus the District of Columbia have MiMi values within range of their benchmark averages of 100.
- 80 out of 100 metro areas have MiMi values within range of 100.
- The most improving states month over month were Nevada (+2.95%), Florida (+2.14%), Illinois (+1.95%), Washington (+1.91%) and Alabama (+1.90%).
- On a year-over-year basis, the most improving states were Florida (+12.13%), Massachusetts (+9.94%), Nevada (+9.94%), Oregon (+9.43%) and Tennessee (+9.39%).
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