Housing Market Index Stays Strong
The National Association of Home Builders Housing Market Index is one of the key housing market statistics that we track at FREEandCLEAR. The Housing Market Index incorporates factors such as current and expected new home sales and interest level from potential new home buyers. It is important to highlight that the index focuses on new home sales, so homes built by builders that have never been lived in before, as opposed to existing home sales, which represents a larger portion of the overall housing market.
The housing market index carried its strong momentum from the June report in July. For July 2015, the Housing Market Index came in at 60 as compared to 59 in June 2015. Any figure above 50 is considered positive and July represents the 13th consecutive month with the index above 50. The July figure came in at the top end of the range of industry analyst expectations and reached its highest level in almost ten years. The future and present home sales components of the index inched up while the home buyer traffic component of the index dropped one point, once again dragged down by disappointing participation from first time home buyers. (Source: Bloomberg)
What it Means for Mortgage Borrowers
The most recent housing market index report reinforces the strength and momentum of the housing and mortgage market. The impressive figures for the overall index and the present and future home sales specifically show that borrowers are finding homes to buy and arranging mortgage financing. Although the first-time home buyer segment of the market continues to lag, the broader housing and mortgage markets appear to be very healthy. If you are thinking about buying a home, use our Mortgage Selector Calculator to determine the mortgage program that is right for you and what size mortgage you can afford. Borrowers should also use the INTEREST RATES feature on FREEandCLEAR to monitor mortgage rates and costs for local lenders.
The FREEandCLEAR Mortgage Expert
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