It's was anything but a winter wonderland for the housing market, according to a report released March 25 by Freddie Mac.
Freddie Mac's Multi-Indicator Market Index fell 0.2% in January to 74.6, a stumble following the positive momentum that the market had going into winter. Still, despite this misstep, the U.S. housing market remained in a better position than a year-ago, with the MiMi index staying 3.39% higher than January 2014.
"Housing markets weakened slightly this month, which is no surprise considering the harsh winter and slowdown in economic activity at the outset of 2015," said Freddie Mac deputy chief economist Len Kiefer in a news release that accompanied the index.
"Improving employment and attractive mortgage rates should help to support increased purchase applications, particularly as the weather warms up and we head into the spring homebuying season."
Fourteen of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia rested in the MiMi index's stable range, with North Dakota ranking highest with a value of 96.9. An additional nine metropolitan areas also were in the stable range, led by Austin, Texas (86).
In terms of their outlook, 11 out of 50 states and 21 out of 50 metropolitan areas displayed an improving three-month trend in January, compared with 49 states plus the District of Columbia and all 50 metro areas last year.
In a more positive trend, March's MiMi index also noted the steady decline in mortgage delinquencies. The index's current on mortgage indicator rose 10% from 2014 to 67.5, its highest level in six years.
