Freddie's Multi Market Indicator Recovers from January Stumble

Freddie Mac’s Multi-Indicator Market Index (MiMi) forrnFebruary shows that the U.S. housing market continues to stabilize and hasrnrecovered from a slight stumble – what Freddie Mac had called “the winterrndoldrums” – in January.  The MiMi tracksrnthe top 100 housing markets in the country and 60 percent are now showing an improvingrnthree-month trend.</p

The national MiMi increased 0.65rnpercent from January to February to 74.7, a three month gain of 0.30 percent,rnindicating a weak but improving housing market. On a year-over-year basis thernnational value has improved 3.53 percent. rnThe nation’s all-time MiMi high of 121.7 was April 2006 and the nationalrnvalue has rebounded 31 percent since hitting its low of 57.4 in October 2010. </p

Twenty-three states and 64 metro areasrnshowed an improving three month trend in February compared to 46 states plusrnWashington DC and 92 metro areas that were showing improvement on that basis inrnMarch 2014.  </p

Fourteen of the 50 states plus thernDistrict of Columbia have MiMi values in a stable range and 18 of the metrornareas.  The top five states andrnjurisdictions are North Dakota (95.7), the District of Columbia (94.8), Hawaiirn(90.7), Montana (89.2), and Wyoming (85.7). rnThe highest metro areas are Honolulu (91.8), Fresno (90.0), Austinrn(87.4), McAllen, TX (85.9), and Los Angeles (85.5.)</p

The state that improved the most on arnmonthly basis was Oregon, up 2.19 percent followed by Michigan, Florida,rnCalifornia and Kentucky.  On arnyear-over-year basis, the most improving states were Nevada (+11.40 percent),rnColorado (+9.60 percent), Florida (9.14 percent), Oregon (+8.31percent), andrnRhode Island (+7.97 percent). </p

Detroit, Fresno, and Portland, Oregonrnshowed the greatest month-over-month improvement at 2.49, 2.16, and 2.09rnpercent respectively.  On arnyear-over-year basis, the most improving metro areas were Stockton (14.15rnpercent), Las Vegas (12.28 percent), Denver (11.62 percent), Palm Bay, FL (11.11rnpercent) and Detroit (10.94 percent). </p

Freddie Mac’s Deputy Chief EconomistrnLen Kiefer said, “By adding an additional 50 metro markets to the monthlyrnMiMi we are able to capture greater insights into what’s moving local housingrnmarkets heading into the spring homebuying season. The good news is afterrna slight stumble last month, nearly 60 percent of all markets are improving.rnAlso, of the top 100 metro areas, over 60 are showing purchase applications uprnfrom the same time last year with over 20 of those metro areas showingrndouble-digit percentage increases.”</p

“Likewise, the employment picturerncontinues to improve in most markets helping to support greater interest inrnpurchasing a home. For example, in markets like Fresno, California, Provo,rnUtah, and Portland, Oregon, the employment picture continues to improve,rnhomebuyer affordability is also strong, and we’re seeing purchase applicationsrnup nearly 20 percent compared to the same time last year. Even in markets likernSeattle where the inventory of for-sale homes is low and affordability is beingrnchallenged, we’re still seeing a slight pickup in purchase applications overrnthe past three months. However, we are beginning to see flat to slowingrnpurchase applications in those energy states being affected by lower oilrnprices.”

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