Market Studies

The indicators used in the rankings include sales/listing activity and prices, months of remaining inventory, days on market, sold-to-list price ratio, and foreclosure percentage and REO activity.

According to RE/MAX, home sales over the last six months, including July, have each recorded the highest number of sales in their respective months since the RE/MAX National Housing Report began in 2008.

The default rates for both first and second mortgages held steady from June to July while the composite index dropped by one basis point after all three increased from May to June, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices and S&P/Experian Consumer Credit Default Indices for July 2015 released Tuesday.

All 10 of the largest metro areas and 48 states reported double-digit year-over-year declines in the percentage of seriously delinquent mortgages in Q2, according to TransUnion. The metro areas that experienced the largest declines were Miami (40 percent, down to 5.31 percent) and Los Angeles (29.1 percent, down to 2.07 percent).

The Philadelphia Fed reported that the labor market outlook remains unchanged. The forecasters predicted similar results as the last survey for unemployment, noting that it will be an annual average of 5.3 percent in 2015, before falling to 5.0 percent in 2016, 4.8 percent in 2017, and 4.7 percent in 2018.

According to Fitch, home prices have grown 50 percent faster in urban centers than in the larger metro statistical areas (MSAs) since 2000. City centers are expected to continue to experience growth due to the shift in demand, even in regions lacking significant fundamental support, and are currently considered overvalued.

Ask the Economist is an ongoing series in which DS News talks with an economist about the most pressing issues facing the nation's housing industry and the economy. This installment features Peter Muoio, Chief Economist with Auction.com.

According to the NAR, price gains were recorded in 85 percent of metro areas in the first quarter. In addition, 34 metro areas experienced double-digit increases in the second quarter, a decline from the 51 metro areas in the first quarter.

Originally, Auction.com predicted the total number of existing-home sales to fall between 5.49 and 5.84 million annual sales with a targeted number of 5.67 million.

Meanwhile, median home price inflation expectations fell from 3.5 percent in June to 3.2 percent in July, continuing a downward trend. It is the second lowest monthly total for the SCE since it began in June 2013.