US Census Bereau keeps a monthly report of building permits online. One can simply pick up the state and county or city of interest and check out new building permits every month since 2000. As to a great extent, number of building permits reflects builder's outlook of the market, it is a good leading indicator of housing prices for a given region. (Building permits can also be affected by other factors, like certain restrictions of cities, for example.)
It's a pity that this report does not include the city in which my house is located. Probably it is because that my city was newly incorporated just two years ago. A quick look at a nearby city shows that YTD permit number is 55% higher than last year.