Majority of metro housing markets improving, trade group says

Most of the nation’s metropolitan housing markets can be classified as improving, according to a trade group, pointing to a broad-based housing recovery.

The National Assn. of Home Builders said Monday that 255 metro housing markets are improving, a pullback from 263 in June, but the sixth consecutive month that at least 70% of metros tracked by the association earned the improving label.

Southern California’s housing recovery: An interactive map

The association lists a market as improving when it shows increases in housing permits, employment and home prices for at least six months running. The home builder group dropped 14 markets from its list in July and added six.

“The relative stability of the [index] is representative of the broad recovery underway, which is much more extensive than what we were looking at one year ago,” NAHB Chairman Rick Judson said in a statement.

The number of improving markets has more than tripled since July 2012, and 49 states and the District of Columbia now have an improving local market.

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