[1]The overall housing market is healthier today than it has been since 2001, according to Nationwide’s Health of Housing Market Report [2] (HOHM) for the first quarter of 2015. According to Nationwide’s inaugural report, only two cities in the U.S. are trending negative in terms of housing recovery.
According to data, none of the housing markets in the nation’s largest 40 metros are in negative territory, and only six of them are even neutral. The healthiest housing markets in the nation are in Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Philadelphia. Only two metros in the nation are in negative territory (Bismarck, North Dakota and Atlantic City, New Jersey), and even these are nearly in the neutral zone.
Fourth quarter 2014 data was used to determine the index level, capturing statistics for employment, the mortgage market and house price growth components. In the latest period, household formations rose at a faster pace, but a continued tight mortgage-lending environment persists as an impediment to even stronger national housing activity.
“Unlike most other housing indices or surveys, the HoHM Report provides a look into the future instead of the rearview mirror,” said David Berson, Nationwide’s chief economist and SVP. “The quarterly report should serve as a resource to gauge how healthy housing markets are today but, perhaps more important, what to expect in the future and why.”
The Top 10 metros are:
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Cleveland-Elyria, Ohio
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Rockford, Illinois
- Burlington, North Carolina
- Scranton-Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
- Fayetteville-Springdale, Arkansas-Missouri
- Idaho Falls, Indiana
- Tulsa, Oklahoma
- Kennewick-Richland, Washington
The Bottom 10 metros are:
- Bismarck, North Dakota
- Atlantic City-Hammonton, New Jersey
- New Orleans-Metairie, Louisiana
- Lafayette, Louisiana
- Casper, Wyoming
- Ocean City, New Jersey
- Austin-Round Rock, Texas
- Monroe, Louisiana
- Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas
- Houston, Texas