Six of the top 10 U.S. markets with the most single-family construction activity during the last year are located in Texas and the Southeast, according to research by John Burns Real Estate Counseling.
According to Bloomberg.com, figures from the Commerce Department indicate housing starts reached an 872,000 annual rate in September, the most since July 2008.
A total of 103 housing markets across the United States qualified to be listed on the National Association of Home Builders/First American Improving Markets Index (IMI) for October.
New-home sales for August were up 27.7 percent from their performance last year, according to new data released by the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Wednesday.
Both composites of the Case-Shiller Home Price Index showed increases in July, with the 10-City Composite up 0.6 percent year-over-year and the 20-City Composite up 1.2 percent.
The 24/7 Wall St. blog used data from Zillow to pinpoint 10 small towns that have had large year-over-year price increases. Towns in Arizona, Michigan, California, and Florida are among those that made the list.
For the first time since the first quarter of 2008, the total amount of loans outstanding for residential construction (1 to 4 units) rose on a quarter-over-quarter basis, according to data from the FDIC.
Existing-home sales continued to improve in August and the national median price rose on a year-over-year basis for the sixth straight month, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Nationwide housing production rose 2.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 750,000 units in August, according to newly released figures from HUD and the U.S. Census Bureau.
According to the latest National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes rose for a fifth consecutive month in September.