Dive Brief:

• The latest report of the monthly National Association of Home Builders/First American Leading Markets Index (LMI) says that across 350 metro areas in the U.S., the housing market is at 86% of its pre-recession normal level.
• The report said 54 metro areas had hit or exceeded their normal levels this month, most of them smaller areas.
• The index uses 2000-2003 to determine what is normal for single-family home building permits and sales prices and 2007 as the base for an area's employment, then combines them to get a rating.

Dive Insight:

The energy industry is powering the best-performing markets, NAHB said, with almost half of the 54 top metros being in Texas, Louisiana, North Dakota, Wyoming and Montana. The organization used the improving numbers to warn that government has to be careful not to take any "actions that could impede or even reverse the modest gains of the past year.”