Housing markets in upstate New York, southwest Florida and the Bay Area of Northern California are leading the recovery, while markets in northern Maryland, southeast Pennsylvania and downstate Illinois are lagging the furthest behind, RealtyTrac reported today in releasing its first-ever Housing Market Recovery Index (Housing MRI).
The index, which tracked 100 major markets in its first release, is calculated based on the unemployment rate, underwater loans percentage, foreclosure activity percent change from peak, distressed sales percent of total sales, institutional investors’ share of total sales, cash purchases’ share of total sales and median home price percent change from bottom.
The MRI is not the first index designed to gauge the housing recovery. The National Association of Home Builders and First American’s Improving Markets Index tracks metropolitan areas that have shown improvement from their respective troughs in housing permits, employment and house prices for at least six straight months. At the national level, Trulia’s Housing Barometer crunches data to quantify the overall housing market’s progress towards “normal” conditions.
Source: RealtyTrac
