National housing market is approaching normal
The national housing market is at 94 percent of normal, according to the National Association of Home Builders/First American Leading Markets Index, a measure building permits, home prices and employment, according to a release. For single-family permits and home prices, 2000 to 2003 is used as the last normal period, and for employment, 2007 is the base comparison. The three components are then averaged to provide an overall score for each market; a national score is calculated based on national measures of the three metrics.