While the housing market picks up more and more as we get closer to the end of 2013, some markets are succeeding faster than others. RealtyTrac recently released its first Housing Market Recovery Index, which reveals the metro areas leading the housing recovery.
The index showed that upstate New York, southwest Florida, and Northern California's Bay Area are leaders in the housing recovery. On the other hand, markets in northern Maryland, southeast Pennsylvania, and downstate Illinois are still showing signs of lagging the furthest behind in the recovery, according to RealtyTrac.
For its Housing Market Recovery Index, RealtyTrac used seven different measures to
evaluate the 100 largest metro’s recovery: the unemployment rate, underwater loan percentage, foreclosure activity percentage change from peak, distressed sales, investor share, cash purchases and median home price change from the bottom. The following are the metros that ranked highest on its Housing Market Recovery Index:
1. Rochester, N.Y.
Median home price change from trough: 93%
Unemployment rate: 7%
Underwater home owners: 7%
2. Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla.
Median home price change from trough: 82%
Unemployment rate: 7.4%
Underwater home owners: 42%
3. Albany-Schenectady-Troy, N.Y.
Median home price change from trough: 44%
Unemployment rate: 6.4%
Underwater home owners: 9%
4. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif.
Median home price change from trough: 70%
Unemployment rate: 6.9%
Underwater home owners: 9%
5. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Calif.
Median home price change from trough: 96%
Unemployment rate: 6.5%
Underwater home owners: 17%
6. Birmingham-Hoover, Ala.
Median home price change from trough: 58%
Unemployment rate: 5.9%
Underwater home owners: 15%
7. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Ga.
Median home price change from trough: 57%
Unemployment rate: 8.9%
Underwater home owners: 36%
