Seasonal Trends Blamed For Decline in NAHB's Improving Markets List

The list of improving markets compiled byrnthe National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) and First American Titlernappears to have hit an inevitable point of diminishing returns.  The index lost a net of 15 markets in May,rndeclining to 258 as 19 markets fell off the list while only four werernadded.  Despite the slide, the NAHB notes that markets followed similar pattern last year.</p

To be included on the list a market mustrnhave sustained improvement from their respective low points in each of threernmetrics, employment, housing permits, and home prices, for six months.  Losing ground in any one component will droprnthe market temporarily from the list.  Improvementrnon the metrics is measured by data provided respectively by the Bureau of LaborrnStatistics, the Census Bureau, and Freddie Mac. rn</p

New to the list this month are Dothan,rnAlabama; Elizabethtown, Kentucky; Salisbury, Maryland; and Salem, Oregon.rnSeveral major cities were among the names dropped from the list includingrnChicago, Raleigh, Philadelphia, Albuquerque, and Lexington, Kentucky and threernof the nineteen cities were in Wisconsin. rn</p

“While seasonal trends in homernprices resulted in an overall decline in the IMI this month, the index remainsrnat a very strong level and continues to represent markets in every state,”rnnoted NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “Some metropolitan areas that hadrnpreviously charted marginal home-price gains dropped off the list this time asrna result of typically softer prices seen in the winter months, which is similarrnto what the index showed in this same period last year.”

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