The South Florida housing market continued an improving trend in July, according to an index produced by Freddie Mac mortgage company.
Freddie Mac’s Multi-Indicator Market Index gave a July score of 87.3 to the tri-county area of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, up from 73.3 a year earlier.
The index is applied to metropolitan areas nationwide and it produces a composite measure of mortgage originations and delinquencies, housing affordability and employment. A score of 80 or higher indicates a stable or favorable market. A perfect score would be 100.
Fresno, California, was the top U.S. housing market with an August score of 98.9, and Austin, Texas, was second-ranked at 96.4.
Among eight metro areas in Florida that Freddie Mac surveyed in July, only South Florida and Cape Coral got scores above 80. But other Florida housing markets are rebounding.
“Florida has some of the most improving housing markets in the country, largely a reflection of more borrowers becoming current on their mortgage payments as the local employment picture improves and housing prices rebound,” Len Kiefer,deputy chief economist of Freddie Mac, said in a statement.
Mike Larson, who analyzes housing markets for Weiss Research told the Sun-Sentinel that “subdued wage growth” might slow the South Florida market but “there’s nothing incredibly troubling out there on the horizon.” [Sun-Sentinel] — Mike Seemuth