An increased level of home-purchase mortgage applications led to continued improvement in the U.S. housing market in December, according to Freddie Mac.
The national
Freddie Mac compiles the index to measure the health of the housing market, using variables such as the number of home-purchase applications, payment-to-income ratios and current mortgage rates.
Within the broader index, the purchase applications indicator rose 9% from last year.
"One encouraging sign is that not only are purchase applications solidly up, but borrowers being current on their mortgage strongly improved in 2015 as well," Len Kiefer, Freddie Mac's deputy chief economist, said in a news release.
The most stable areas during the month were the District of Columbia, North Dakota, Hawaii, Montana and Utah.
