Housing market recovery hits post-crisis high

A measurement of the housing market's recovery hit a post-housing-crash high for the second straight month in September. 

Weighing three different housing indicators — construction starts, existing home sales and foreclosures — the sector is 43 percent of the way back to normal from rock-bottom levels, up from 42 percent in August and 24 percent in September 2011, according to Trulia’s Housing Barometer released Tuesday. 

The improvement comes on a surge in construction starts combined with a slight drop in existing home sales and an unexpected rise in the delinquency and foreclosure rate.

Construction starts hit an annual rate of 872,000 last month, 39 percent back to the normal level of 1.5 million, up 15 percent over August. That is the highest level since July 2008, and 35 percent above levels posted a year ago.

Existing home sales, which slipped a bit last month, are 57 percent of the way back to their 5.5 million normal level. 

After a big increase in August, existing home sales fell 1.7 percent in September to 4.75 million in September. That is up 11 percent from a year ago.

In September, the combined delinquency and foreclosure rate hit its highest level in seven months and is 34 percent back to normal.

Last month, 11.27 percent of mortgages were delinquent or in foreclosure, up from 10.91 percent in August, still well above the 5.5 percent normal level.