Florida is leading the nation in rebounding from the real estate slump from a few years ago, according to the latest Multi-Indicator Market Index (MiMi) from Freddie Mac.
Freddie Mac’s MiMi provides insight into today’s housing market by using the latest data to measure the stability of the housing market in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia. It also provides information on the top 100 metros, and the nation.
City by City Comparison
Released September 23, the latest MiMi showed in a city-by-city comparison that Orlando was at the top of the list when it comes month-to-month and year-to-year comparison. Numbers compiled over the last month and year for the top five cities follow below:
Top 5 Cities Showing Month to Month Improvements
- Orlando improved 2.6 percent month – to – month
- Greenville, S.C. improved +2.55 percent month – to – month
- Cape Coral improved 2.51 percent month – to – month
- Tampa improved 2.19 percent month – to – month
- Jacksonville improved 2.12 percent month – to – month
As is evident, all the top five cities are in Florida with only one non-Florida city making the top five list.
Top 5 Cities Showing Year to Year Improvements
- Orlando improved 18.27 percent year – to – year
- Cape Coral improved 17.75 percent year – to – year
- Tampa improved 15.99 percent year – to – year
- Palm Bay improved 14.98 percent year – to – year
- North Port improved 14.77 percent year – to – year
Freddie Mac added four cities to its list of slowly stabilizing markets. These are Albany, New York; Phoenix, Arizona; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
State Comparisons
When comparing all the states across the country, Freddie Mac’s MiMi numbers showed the following:
Top 5 States Showing Month to Month Improvements
- Florida’s index score rose 2.0 percent
- Colorado’s index score rose 1.99 percent
- New Jersey’s index score rose 1.83 percent
- Connecticut’s index score rose 1.80 percent
- Nevada’s index score rose 1.48 percent
Top 5 States Showing Year to Year Improvements
- Florida’s index grew by 14.35 percent
- Oregon’s index grew by 13.45 percent
- Nevada’s index grew by 12.18 percent
- Colorado’s index grew by 11.65 percent
- Washington’s index grew by 10.18 percent
Deputy Chief Economist Len Kiefer with Freddie Mac identified Florida has one of the most improved housing markets in the nation, and it is continuing to get better. These numbers are a result of more borrowers becoming current on their mortgage payments, Kiefer reports, as well as local employment numbers from across the state of Florida improving. All these factors together are what is making the housing prices in Florida rebound.
Nationally, Freddie Mac added another state – Rhode Island – to what it identifies as slowly stabilizing markets.
National Numbers
The national MiMi value has reached 81. This number is considered on the outer range of what Freddie Mac identifies as stable housing activity. The number improved 0.93 percent month-to-month and 6.17 percent year-to-year. Overall, the national MiMi has improved 37% since it hit an all-time low in October 2010 of 29.97.
In agreement with these recent findings, Freddie Mac reports that all MiMi indicators are heading in the right direction across the country with more than 6 percent improvement shown over the nation as a whole when compared to the same information at this time last year. This is the second consecutive month of continued improvement, which is a positive indicator for the real estate market as a whole.
