Tyler Housing Market Continues to Make Gains

The number of housing permits combined with employment and house prices during the past six months has put Tyler for the first time this year, among 23 Texas cities on the March National Association of Home Builders.

Texas was second only to California in the largest number of improving markets on the list.

“As the economy is improving, our builders are seeing more and more clients who may have been watching and waiting for the last few years,” said Libby Simmons, executive vice-president of Tyler Area Builders Association.  “These numbers are a continuing sign that things are improving.”

"The point is that economic conditions have been consistently strengthening in a diverse array of individual markets nationwide," said NAHB Chairman Barry Rutenberg.

This is the first time Tyler as made the list this year. Other markets in Texas that made the list included Amarillo, Abilene, Austin, Beaumont, Brownsville, College Station, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, Houston, Killeen, Longview, Lubbock, McAllen, Midland, Odessa, San Angelo, San Antonio, Texarkana, Victoria, Waco and Wichita Falls.

The IMI (Improving Markets Index) is designed to track housing markets throughout the country that are showing signs of improving economic health. The index measures three sets of independent monthly data to get a mark on the top improving Metropolitan Statistical Areas. The three indicators that are analyzed are employment growth from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, house price appreciation from Freddie Mac, and single-family housing permit growth from the U.S. Census Bureau. NAHB uses the latest available data from these sources to generate a list of improving markets. A metropolitan area must see improvement in all three areas for at least six months following their respective troughs before being included on the improving markets list.

A complete list of all 274 metropolitan areas currently on the IMI, and separate breakouts of metros newly added to or dropped from the list in March, is available at: www.nahb.org/imi.