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By Michael Neal
Copyright © 2016 National Association of Home Builders
The economic and housing recovery continues at a slow, but steady pace. For the country as a whole, the NAHB/First American Leading Markets Index (LMI), released the last week of February, rose to .94 in the fourth quarter of 2015, .01 point higher than its level in the third quarter of 2015, .93, and .04 point higher than its level from one year ago, .90. The index uses single-family housing permits*, employment, and home prices to measure proximity to a normal economic and housing market. The index is calculated for both the entire country and for 337 local markets, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). A value of 1.0 means the market (or country) is back to the last level of normality.
Nationally, all three components of the LMI contributed to the 4-quarter growth in the nationwide score, .04 point to .94, but only house prices and permits contributed ... Read the entire article at the NAHB Eye on Housing blog
