National Association of Home Builders list shows positive signs in Corridor housing market

Cedar Rapids and Iowa City continued to see improvements in key factors that indicate a recovering housing market, according to the August Improving Markets Index released by the National Association of Home Builders.

The index identifies metropolitan areas that have shown improvement from their respective troughs - or low points - in housing permits, employment and house prices for at least six consecutive months. It analyzes data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Freddie Mac.

Three new markets were added to the list and 11 dropped from it in August. Cedar Rapids has been on the list since November 2012.

"The market is definitely improving and is one of the strongest in the state," said Joan Tiemeyer, executive office for the Greater Iowa City Area Home Builders Association.

Tiemeyer said factors contributing to the improving housing market, aside from a recovering economy, are the Corridor's strong neighborhoods, amenities and schools as well as a growth in population. However, increasing interest rates could be slight setback and affect future growth, she noted.

According to the index, building permits for new single family homes have experienced a 2.1 percent growth in Cedar Rapids from its trough of December 2011 while Iowa City saw a .7 percent growth since May 2010.

Census Bureau data from June shows that there were 94 building permits issued in Cedar Rapids and 38 issued in Iowa City. Data showing housing permits authorized from year-to-date are 486 and 590, respectively.

Ames saw the biggest growth in housing permits in Iowa - 6.1 percent - from its trough in July 2010.

Home prices in Cedar Rapids have grown by 2.2 percent since February 2011. The Freddie Mac House Price Index, which measures price appreciation by comparing the price of the same property over two or more transactions, shows that the index grew from 113.89 to 118.56 during that time period.

In Iowa City prices grew by 4.8 percent since January 2010, and the Freddie Mac index grew from 125.62 to 132.33.

A total of 247 metropolitan areas across 49 states and the District of Columbia qualified for inclusion on the August Improving Markets Index. This is eight metro areas shy of the number listed on the July Index, but it is approximately three times the number of metros that qualified for the list in August 2012.