South Florida is inching closer to housing stability, according to a monthly report released Wednesday by Freddie Mac.
Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties scored 72.2 on the Multi-Indicator Market Index for November. That's up slightly from October and 10.57% from a year earlier.
Only Las Vegas (20.14%), Chicago (12.37%) and Denver (10.68%) had bigger annual gains.
The index measures home loan applications, affordability, mortgage loan delinquencies and employment in 50 metro areas across the country. A score of at least 80 is favorable. A perfect score is 100.
Fewer mortgage loan delinquencies during the past three months have helped boost South Florida's overall score, though loan applications are still weak.
Len Kiefer, deputy chief economist for Freddie Mac, said in a statement that the region has shown consistent improvement since last May.
"However, given the modest income growth, affordability is starting to be an issue in South Florida," he said. "So like the rest of the country, we're still waiting for some solid wage growth to help offset this factor. Until we do, it's unlikely we're going to see home purchase applications recover anywhere close to what we would call normal for the (three-county) market."
Analysts and real estate agents say a slowing of rising prices will keep them from soaring out of reach for typical buyers. Jim Heidisch, a broker with Campbell & Rosemurgy in Pompano Beach, said he expects prices to increase at a modest 3% to 5% this year.
"That's a good, healthy market," Heidisch said. "Real estate wasn't meant to be flipped like stocks. It's a long-term investment."
South Florida's MIMI score is roughly 71% better than its all-time low of 42.13 in October 2010.
Eight of the 50 metro areas nationwide currently have scores in the stable range. San Antonio leads at 89.5, with Austin second (87) and Houston third (85.3).
©2015 Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency
