House prices are growing and outpacing income growth, but due to relative housing affordability, the nation does not need to worry about a price bubble.
The insurance company Nationwide released the 2016 Q3 Health of Housing Markets Report. The national Leading Index of Healthy Housing Markets (LIHHM) was 106.7, which was down from last year, but still positive overall.
Regionally, the LIHHM performance rankings show that the vast majority of metro areas across the country are healthy, suggesting that few regional housing markets are vulnerable to a housing downturn over the next year or so. Housing activity for local markets with strong ties to the energy sector, however, continues to be worrisome, with multiple energy-intensive MSAs showing a negative outlook.
