Where the Improving Housing Markets Were in November

All the talk lately of a drop in pending home sales, a potential triple-dip in home prices, and other negative real estate news may cause you to think that good real estate news is nonexistent. Fortunately, we here at Movoto can say with certainty that good news stills exists; it’s just a little harder to find these days.
Today, we dug up some good news for you that should lift your spirits: Improving housing markets in the U.S. have jumped from 23 metro areas up to 30 in November.
This bit of levity comes courtesy of the NAHB/First American Improving Markets Index (IMI), which utilizes the the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ data on employment growth, Freddie Mac’s data on house price appreciation, and the U.S. Census Bureau’s data on single-family housing permit growth to measure and track “housing markets throughout the country that are showing signs of improving economic health”. Only those metro areas that have shown recovery in these 3 areas for the past 6 months make the list.
In November, two cities dropped off the list — Iowa City, Iowa, and Wichita Falls, Kansas — but were replaced by the nine other metro areas that made it onto the list — Cheyenne, Wyoming; Corpus Christi, Texas; Davenport, Iowa; Fort Collins, Colorado; Hinesville, Georgia; Lima, Ohio; Monroe, Louisiana; Tyler, Texas; and Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
What’s more, the addition of Fort Collins, Hinesville, and Lima marks the first that Colorado, Georgia, and Ohio have all respectively appeared on this list.
The final list for November looked like this:

• Alexandria, Louisiana

• Amarillo, Texas

• Anchorage, Alaska

• Bismarck, North Dakota

• Casper, Wyoming

• Cheyenne, Wyoming

• Corpus Christi, Texas

• Davenport, Iowa

• Fairbanks, Alaska

• Fayetteville, North Carolina

• Fort Collins, Colorado

• Hinesville, Georgia

• Houma, Louisiana

• Jonesboro, Arkansas

• Kankakee, Illinois

• Lima, Ohio

• McAllen, Texas

• Midland, Texas

• Monroe, Louisiana

• New Orleans, Louisiana

• Odessa, Texas

• Pine Bluff, Arkansas

• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

• Sherman, Texas

• Sumter, South Carolina

• Tyler, Texas

• Waco, Texas

• Waterloo, Iowa

• Williamsport, Pennsylvania

• Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Observant readers will notice a few key things about this list. First, Texas leads the pack with eight entries, most likely due to its booming energy sector and business-friendly climate. Second, most of the list’s entries are small cities dominated primarily by the energy or agriculture industry, showing that these industries are bringing money and jobs to these areas, thus aiding in their recovery. Third, Pittsburgh and New Orleans are the only large metros present, which is indicative of how large metros have been hit the hardest by the economic slump.
In this humble writer’s opinion, we can probably see these market trends continue on into the future. Stay tuned here for more on this topic in the coming months and see if we’re correct!

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Stephanie Huskey is the resident real estate blogger for Movoto and is immensely pleased to see Wyoming on this list. (I plan on it being my future home, after all!) Interested in getting her advice on your blog? She’s currently seeking guest blogging opportunities so she can share her knowledge with new communities! You can find her over here at Elance.com.