The National Association of Realtors releases updated numbers on housing affordability monthly. The measure is an index in which the value of 100 means a family has exactly enough income to quality for a mortgage on a median-priced home. Measures above 100 mean that a family has more than enough income to qualify. Since the housing bubble, home affordability has been high, a positive sign for a recovery in demand.

Source: http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/COMPHAI

Data Release: http://www.realtor.org/topics/housing-affordability-index

Data on new residential sales is released monthly by the Census Bureau, detailing the number of new single-family houses sold in a given month in the United States.

Source: hhttp://www.census.gov/construction/nrs/

Data Release: http://www.census.gov/construction/nrs/pdf/newressales.pdf

Federal policy has long played a role in homeownership. The homeownership rate, released by the Census Bureau quarterly, is an important indicator for the larger economy because of the outlying effects of homeownership. With the rising trend towards rental housing, the homeownership rate has been watched even more closely. It is calculated by dividing all owner-occupied units by the total number of occupied housing units in the United States.

Source: http://www.census.gov/housing/hvs/data/histtabs.html

The amount of household real estate equity is the total net worth of household real estate holdings in the United States. As home prices plummeted with the bursting of the housing bubble, home equity plummeted. The loss in equity cannot be regained without economic growth and higher home prices. Household home equity data is released quarterly as part of the Z.1 Flow of Funds Accounts of the United States by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Source: http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/OEHRENWBSHNO

Both the Home and Rental Vacancies are important economic indicators. They gauge the economic climate by estimating the percentage of vacant units among all housing inventory.

Source: http://www.census.gov/housing/hvs/data/histtabs.html