Real Prices and Price-to-Rent Ratio in March

Here is the earlier post on Case-Shiller: Case-Shiller Graphs: National House Price Index increased 5.2% year-over-year in March

The year-over-year increase in prices is mostly moving sideways now around 5%. In March, the index was up 5.2% YoY.

In the earlier post, I graphed nominal house prices, but it is also important to look at prices in real terms (inflation adjusted).  Case-Shiller, CoreLogic and others report nominal house prices.  As an example, if a house price was $200,000 in January 2000, the price would be close to $274,000 today adjusted for inflation (37%).  That is why the second graph below is important - this shows "real" prices (adjusted for inflation).

It has been almost ten years since the bubble peak.  In the Case-Shiller release this morning, the National Index was reported as being 3.0% below the bubble peak.   However, in real terms, the National index is still about 17% below the bubble peak.

Nominal House Prices


The first graph shows the monthly Case-Shiller National Index SA, the monthly Case-Shiller Composite 20 SA, and the CoreLogic House Price Indexes (through March) in nominal terms as reported.

In nominal terms, the Case-Shiller National index (SA) is back to November 2005 levels, and the Case-Shiller Composite 20 Index (SA) is back to June 2005 levels, and the CoreLogic index (NSA) is back to August 2005.

Real House Prices

The second graph shows the same three indexes in real terms (adjusted for inflation using CPI less Shelter). Note: some people use other inflation measures to adjust for real prices.

In real terms, the National index is back to February 2004 levels, the Composite 20 index is back to November 2003, and the CoreLogic index back to February 2004.

In real terms, house prices are back to early 2004 levels.

Price-to-Rent

In October 2004, Fed economist John Krainer and researcher Chishen Wei wrote a Fed letter on price to rent ratios: House Prices and Fundamental Value. Kainer and Wei presented a price-to-rent ratio using the OFHEO house price index and the Owners' Equivalent Rent (OER) from the BLS.

Here is a similar graph using the Case-Shiller National, Composite 20 and CoreLogic House Price Indexes.

This graph shows the price to rent ratio (January 1998 = 1.0).

On a price-to-rent basis, the Case-Shiller National index is back to August 2003 levels, the Composite 20 index is back to June 2003 levels, and the CoreLogic index is back to October 2003.

In real terms, and as a price-to-rent ratio, prices are back to late 2003 and early 2004 levels - and the price-to-rent ratio maybe moving a little more sideways now.

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Dallas Fed: Regional Manufacturing Activity declined in May

From the Dallas Fed: Texas Manufacturing Activity Declines

Texas factory activity declined in May after two months of increases, according to business executives responding to the Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey. The production index, a key measure of state manufacturing conditions, fell from 5.8 to -13.1, hitting its lowest reading in a year.

Other measures of current manufacturing activity also reflected contraction this month. The new orders index fell more than 20 points to -14.9 after pushing into positive territory last month. The growth rate of orders index has been negative since late 2014 and fell to -14.7 in May after climbing to near zero in April. The capacity utilization and shipments indexes returned to negative territory after two months of positive readings, coming in at yearlong lows of -11.0 and -11.5, respectively.

Perceptions of broader business conditions were more pessimistic this month. The general business activity index declined from -13.9 to -20.8, and the company outlook index fell 10 points to -16.1.

Latest readings on employment and workweek length indicated a fifth consecutive month of contraction in May. The employment index moved down three points to -6.7. ...
emphasis added

The impact of lower oil prices is still being felt in the Dallas region.

This was the last of the regional Fed surveys for May.

Here is a graph comparing the regional Fed surveys and the ISM manufacturing index:

Click on graph for larger image.

The New York and Philly Fed surveys are averaged together (yellow, through May), and five Fed surveys are averaged (blue, through May) including New York, Philly, Richmond, Dallas and Kansas City. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) PMI (red) is through April (right axis).

It seems likely the ISM manufacturing index will show contraction in May, although the consensus is for a reading of 50.6 (slow expansion).

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Case-Shiller Graphs: National House Price Index increased 5.2% year-over-year in March

S&P/Case-Shiller released the monthly Home Price Indices for March ("March" is a 3 month average of January, February and March prices).

This release includes prices for 20 individual cities, two composite indices (for 10 cities and 20 cities) and the monthly National index.

Note: Case-Shiller reports Not Seasonally Adjusted (NSA), I use the SA data for the graphs.

From S&P: Home Prices Continue Steady Gains in March According to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices

The S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, reported a 5.2% annual gain in March, down from 5.3% the previous month. The 10-City Composite and the 20-City Composites’ year-over-year gains remained unchanged at 4.7% and 5.4%, respectively, from the prior month.
...
Before seasonal adjustment, the National Index posted a month-over-month gain of 0.7% in March. The 10-City Composite recorded a 0.8% month-over-month increase while the 20-City Composite posted a 0.9% increase in March. After seasonal adjustment, the National Index recorded a 0.1% month-over-month increase, the 10-City Composite posted a 0.8% increase, and the 20-City Composite reported a 0.9% month-over-month increase. After seasonal adjustment, six cities saw prices rise, one city was unchanged, and 13 cities experienced negative monthly price changes.
emphasis added

Click on graph for larger image.

The first graph shows the nominal seasonally adjusted Composite 10, Composite 20 and National indices (the Composite 20 was started in January 2000).

The Composite 10 index is off 10.6% from the peak, and up 0.8% in March (SA).

The Composite 20 index is off 8.9% from the peak, and up 0.9% (SA) in March.

The National index is off 3.0% from the peak, and up 0.1% (SA) in March.  The National index is up 31.1% from the post-bubble low set in December 2011 (SA).

The second graph shows the Year over year change in all three indices.

The Composite 10 SA is up 4.7% compared to March 2015.

The Composite 20 SA is up 5.4% year-over-year..

The National index SA is up 5.2% year-over-year.

Note: According to the data, prices increased in 19 of 20 cities month-over-month seasonally adjusted. (the press release says 6).

I'll have more later.

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Case-Shiller: National House Price Index increased 5.2% year-over-year in March

Note: S&P is having difficulty this morning.

From the WSJ: U.S. Home Price Growth Remained Robust in March, Case-Shiller Says

The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, covering the entire nation rose 5.2% in the 12 months ended in March, slightly less than a 5.3% increase in February.

The 10-city index gained 4.7% from a year earlier and the 20-city index gained 5.4% year-over-year.
...
Month-over-month prices the U.S. Index rose 0.7% in March before seasonal adjustment; the 20-city index rose 0.9% and the 10-city index rose 0.8% from February to March.

After seasonal adjustment, the national index rose 0.1% month-over-month, the 10-City index posted a 0.8% increase, and the 20-City index reported a 0.9% month-over-month increase.

I'll have more on house prices later.

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Personal Income increased 0.4% in April, Spending increased 1.0%

The BEA released the Personal Income and Outlays report for April:

Personal income increased $69.8 billion, or 0.4 percent ...in April, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $119.2 billion, or 1.0 percent.
...
Real PCE -- PCE adjusted to remove price changes -- increased 0.6 percent in April, in contrast to a decrease of less than 0.1 percent in March. ... The price index for PCE increased 0.3 percent in April, compared with an increase of 0.1 percent in March. The PCE price index, excluding food and energy, increased 0.2 percent, compared with an increase of 0.1 percent.

The April PCE price index increased 1.1 percent from April a year ago. The April PCE price index, excluding food and energy, increased 1.6 percent from April a year ago.

The following graph shows real Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) through April 2016 (2009 dollars). Note that the y-axis doesn't start at zero to better show the change.

Click on graph for larger image.

The dashed red lines are the quarterly levels for real PCE.

The increase in personal income was at consensus expectations.  And the increase in PCE was above the consensus. A solid start for Q2.

On inflation: The PCE price index increased 1.1 percent year-over-year due to the sharp decline in oil prices. The core PCE price index (excluding food and energy) increased 1.6 percent year-over-year in April.

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Wal-Mart Steps Up Online Efforts in China as a Key to Future

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Top Retailers Fall Short of Commitments to Overseas Workers

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Tuesday: Personal Income and Outlays, Case-Shiller House Prices, Chicago PMI

Tuesday:
• At 8:30 AM ET, Personal Income and Outlays for April. The consensus is for a 0.4% increase in personal income, and for a 0.7% increase in personal spending. And for the Core PCE price index to increase 0.2%.

• At 9:00 AM, S&P/Case-Shiller House Price Index for March. Although this is the February report, it is really a 3 month average of January, February and March prices. The consensus is for a 5.1% year-over-year increase in the Comp 20 index for March. The Zillow forecast is for the National Index to increase 5.3% year-over-year in March.

• At 9:45 AM, Chicago Purchasing Managers Index for May. The consensus is for a reading of 50.7, up from 50.4 in April.

• At 10:00 AM, the Dallas Fed Survey of Manufacturing Activity for May.

Weekend:
• Schedule for Week of May 29, 2016

• The War on Data

From CNBC: Pre-Market Data and Bloomberg futures: S&P are up 5 and DOW futures are up 50 (fair value).

Oil prices were up over the last week with WTI futures at $49.49 per barrel and Brent at $49.76 per barrel.  A year ago, WTI was at $60, and Brent was at $63 - so prices are down about 20%+ year-over-year.

Here is a graph from Gasbuddy.com for nationwide gasoline prices. Nationally prices are at $2.32 per gallon (down about $0.40 per gallon from a year ago).

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Hamilton: 'Trends in oil supply and demand'

From Professor Hamilton at Econbrowser: Trends in oil supply and demand. A few excerpts:

The new supplies from the U.S., Iraq, and Iran brought prices down dramatically. And in response, demand has been climbing back up. U.S. consumption over the last 12 months was 800,000 b/d higher than in 2013, a 4% increase. Vehicle miles traveled in the U.S. are up 6% over the last two years.
...
Low prices are increasing demand and will also dramatically reduce supply. The EIA is estimating that U.S. production from shale formations is down almost a million barrels a day from last year.

These factors all contributed to a rebound in the price of oil, which traded below $30/barrel at the start of this year but is now back close to $50.

Nevertheless, I doubt that $50 is high enough to reverse the decline in U.S. shale production. Nor is the slashing that we’ve seen in longer-term oil-producing projects about to be undone. And while there is enough geopolitical stability at the moment in places like Iraq and Iran to sustain significantly higher levels of production than we saw in 2013, there is no shortage of news elsewhere in the world that could develop into important new disruptions. For example, conflict in Nigeria may cut that country’s oil production by a million barrels a day.

Adding a million barrels/day to U.S. oil demand and subtracting 2 million b/d from U.S. and Nigerian supply would seem to go a long way toward erasing that glut in oil supply that we’ve been hearing about.

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India's Trade Minister: Discussing Apple's Request for FDI Rules Waiver

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Gasoline Prices: Down 40 cents per gallon from last year on Memorial Day

According to Gasbuddy.com, gasoline prices are down to a national average of $2.33 per gallon. One year ago for the week of Memorial Day, prices were at $2.75 per gallon, and for the same week two years ago prices were $3.75 per gallon.

This is the lowest Memorial Day gasoline prices since 2005 (even lower than in 2009).

Ten years ago, price were at $2.94 per gallon, and fifteen years ago at $1.74.

Memorial Day	Weekly Average Gasoline Price
29-May-00	$1.57
28-May-01	$1.74
27-May-02	$1.43
26-May-03	$1.53
31-May-04	$2.10
30-May-05	$2.17
29-May-06	$2.94
28-May-07	$3.25
26-May-08	$3.99
25-May-09	$2.49
31-May-10	$2.84
30-May-11	$3.90
28-May-12	$3.73
27-May-13	$3.70
26-May-14	$3.75
25-May-15	$2.75
29-May-16	$2.33

According to Bloomberg, WTI oil is at $49.61 per barrel, and Brent is at $49.60 per barrel.  Last year on Memorial Day, Brent was at $65.37 per barrel, and two years ago Brent was at $110.01.

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Schedule for Week of May 29, 2016

The key report this week is the May employment report on Friday.

Other key indicators include May vehicle sales, the May ISM manufacturing and non-manufacturing indexes, and the April trade deficit.

----- Monday, May 30th -----
All US markets will be closed in observance of Memorial Day.

----- Tuesday, May 31st -----
8:30 AM ET: Personal Income and Outlays for April. The consensus is for a 0.4% increase in personal income, and for a 0.7% increase in personal spending. And for the Core PCE price index to increase 0.2%.

9:00 AM: S&P/Case-Shiller House Price Index for March. Although this is the February report, it is really a 3 month average of January, February and March prices.

This graph shows the nominal seasonally adjusted National Index, Composite 10 and Composite 20 indexes through the February 2016 report (the Composite 20 was started in January 2000).

The consensus is for a 5.1% year-over-year increase in the Comp 20 index for March. The Zillow forecast is for the National Index to increase 5.3% year-over-year in March.

9:45 AM: Chicago Purchasing Managers Index for May. The consensus is for a reading of 50.7, up from 50.4 in April.

10:00 AM: Dallas Fed Survey of Manufacturing Activity for May.

----- Wednesday, June 1st -----
7:00 AM ET: The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the results for the mortgage purchase applications index.

8:15 AM: The ADP Employment Report for May. This report is for private payrolls only (no government). The consensus is for 175,000 payroll jobs added in May, up from 156,000 added in April.

10:00 AM: ISM Manufacturing Index for May. The consensus is for the ISM to be at 50.6, down from 50.8 in April.

Here is a long term graph of the ISM manufacturing index.

The ISM manufacturing index indicated expansion at 50.8% in April. The employment index was at 49.2%, and the new orders index was at 55.8%.

10:00 AM: Construction Spending for April. The consensus is for a 0.6% increase in construction spending.

All day: Light vehicle sales for May. The consensus is for light vehicle sales to decrease to 17.3 million SAAR in May from 17.4 million in April (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate).

This graph shows light vehicle sales since the BEA started keeping data in 1967. The dashed line is the April sales rate.

2:00 PM: the Federal Reserve Beige Book, an informal review by the Federal Reserve Banks of current economic conditions in their Districts.

----- Thursday, June 2nd -----
8:30 AM: The initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released.  The consensus is for 267 thousand initial claims, down from 268 thousand the previous week.

----- Friday, June 3rd -----
8:30 AM: Employment Report for May. The consensus is for an increase of 158,000 non-farm payroll jobs added in May, down from the 160,000 non-farm payroll jobs added in April.

The consensus is for the unemployment rate to decline to 4.9%.

This graph shows the year-over-year change in total non-farm employment since 1968.

In April, the year-over-year change was 2.69 million jobs.

A key will be the change in wages.

8:30 AM: Trade Balance report for April from the Census Bureau.

This graph shows the U.S. trade deficit, with and without petroleum, through March. The blue line is the total deficit, and the black line is the petroleum deficit, and the red line is the trade deficit ex-petroleum products.

The consensus is for the U.S. trade deficit to be at $41.0 billion in April from $40.4 billion in March.

10:00 AM: the ISM non-Manufacturing Index for May. The consensus is for index to decrease to 55.5 from 55.7 in April.

10:00 AM: Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories and Orders (Factory Orders) for April. The consensus is a 2.0% increase in orders.

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Acid grade fluorspar price divergence to continue in Q3 2016

Excess capacities continue to plague fluorspar price recovery with low-cost producers pushing offers at new low levels; Chinese producers, however, continue to demand higher prices for their stockpiles causing disparity in the acidspar market.

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Nobel Laureate Satyarthi Says Companies Cannot Flourish on Child Slavery

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Lawler: Sustained Regional Home Price Declines Were Not That Uncommon from the Mid-80’s to the Mid-90’s

From housing economist Tom Lawler: Sustained Regional Home Price Declines Were Not That Uncommon from the Mid-80’s to the Mid-90’s

During any 5-year period that including any part the late 70’s there were virtually no areas that experienced a drop in home prices. That isn’t too surprising given the high inflation rate/nominal income growth rate of the period. What was more surprising is that for any 5-year periods ending from early 2000 (which basically means the latter half of the 1990’s) to the fall of 2006 there were no MSA which experienced a drop in home prices, since those periods were characterized by relative modest inflation and nominal income growth.

It is worth noting that most “models” of mortgage defaults used in the early and mid 2000’s were based on loans originated from 1995/6 or later, as it was around then that the use of credit scores become widespread. As such, these “models” used a period when there were hardly any parts of the country where home prices had declined. ...  During this period actual mortgage losses were incredibly low, models predicted low losses going forward, and in hindsight it’s not surprising that mortgage lending criteria eased considerably over the period, moving from “historically very easy” in 2000-2001 to “ridiculously easy” in the 2003-2006” period.

Click on graph for larger image.

Chart uses Freddie Mac’s Home Price Index for 381 MSAs. The chart shows the number of MSA HPIs that declined over a rolling 5-year (60 month) period.

These models based on “good times” proved to be useless in predicting how mortgages performed during “bad times,” which was “a tragedy” that was predicted by the band Poison in its most excellent song “Good Times, Bad Times, How Life Loves a Tragedy.”<sup>1

1</sup> See, e.g., “Model Stability and the Subprime Mortgage Crisis,” An, Deng, Rosenblatt, and Yen, September 2010.

CR Note: These are some key point in understanding the bubble. The models used to predict defaults were based on a period with rising home prices, and also on a period with different lending criteria. In the early '90s, lending was based on the 3Cs (Collateral, Capacity, and Credit), and that moved to mostly credit scores in the 2000s.

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Graphite continues to feel the pressure of oversupply

Prices remain sluggish with a lack of demand leading to stockpiles mounting both within China and Europe. As a result, the hope of any price upturn remains limited before Q4 2016.

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Q1 GDP Revised Up to 0.8% Annual Rate

From the BEA: Gross Domestic Product: First Quarter 2015 (Second Estimate)

Real gross domestic product -- the value of the goods and services produced by the nation’s economy less the value of the goods and services used up in production, adjusted for price changes -- increased at an annual rate of 0.8 percent in the first quarter of 2016, according to the "second" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the fourth quarter, real GDP increased 1.4 percent.

The GDP estimate released today is based on more complete source data than were available for the "advance" estimate issued last month. In the advance estimate, the increase in real GDP was 0.5 percent. With the second estimate for the first quarter, the decrease in private inventory investment was smaller than previously estimated ...
emphasis added

Here is a Comparison of Second and Advance Estimates. PCE growth was unrevised at 1.9%. Residential investment was revised up from 14.8% to 17.1%.  This was close to the consensus forecast.

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Kansas City Fed: Regional Manufacturing Activity "declined modestly" in May

From the Kansas City Fed: Tenth District Manufacturing Activity Declined Modestly

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City released the May Manufacturing Survey today. According to Chad Wilkerson, vice president and economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, the survey revealed that Tenth District manufacturing activity declined modestly.

“Regional factory activity continued to drift down in May, as weakness in energy and agriculture-related manufacturing persisted,” said Wilkerson. “Still, firms expect a modest pickup in activity later this year.”
...
The month-over-month composite index was -5 in May, which is largely unchanged from April and March readings ...
emphasis added

The Kansas City region was hit hard by lower oil prices.

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Amazon to Deliver Fresh Food in Berlin Soon: Manager Magazin

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PRICING NOTICE: Correction to Acidspar 97% FOB China to India price

Price correction for IM's listed fluorspar grade, acidspar, 97% CaF2, FOB, China to India.

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Philly Fed: State Coincident Indexes increased in 39 states in April

From the Philly Fed:

he Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has released the coincident indexes for the 50 states for April 2016. In the past month, the indexes increased in 39 states, decreased in seven, and remained stable in four, for a one-month diffusion index of 64. Over the past three months, the indexes increased in 42 states, decreased in seven, and remained stable in one, for a three-month diffusion index of 70

Note: These are coincident indexes constructed from state employment data. An explanation from the Philly Fed:

The coincident indexes combine four state-level indicators to summarize current economic conditions in a single statistic. The four state-level variables in each coincident index are nonfarm payroll employment, average hours worked in manufacturing, the unemployment rate, and wage and salary disbursements deflated by the consumer price index (U.S. city average). The trend for each state’s index is set to the trend of its gross domestic product (GDP), so long-term growth in the state’s index matches long-term growth in its GDP.

Click on graph for larger image.

This is a graph is of the number of states with one month increasing activity according to the Philly Fed. This graph includes states with minor increases (the Philly Fed lists as unchanged).

In April, 41 states had increasing activity including minor increases.

Five states have seen declines over the last 6 months, in order they are Wyoming (worst), North Dakota, Alaska, Louisiana and Oklahoma - mostly due to the decline in oil prices.

Here is a map of the three month change in the Philly Fed state coincident indicators. This map was all red during the worst of the recession, and is mostly green now.

Source: Philly Fed.

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FHFA: House Prices increased 0.7% in March, New Zip Code HPI Data

From the FHFA: U.S. House Prices Rise 1.3 Percent in First Quarter; 19 Consecutive Quarterly Increases

U.S. house prices rose 1.3 percent in the first quarter of 2016 according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI). This is the nineteenth consecutive quarterly price increase in the purchase-only, seasonally adjusted index. House prices rose 5.7 percent from the first quarter of 2015 to the first quarter of 2016. This is the fourth consecutive year in which prices grew more than 5 percent. FHFA's seasonally adjusted monthly index for March was up 0.7 percent from February. The HPI is calculated using home sales price information from mortgages sold to, or guaranteed by, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. ...

"While the overall appreciation rate was robust in the first quarter, home price appreciation was somewhat less widespread than in recent quarters," said FHFA Supervisory Economist Andrew Leventis. "Twelve states and the District of Columbia saw price declines in the quarter—the most areas to see price depreciation since the fourth quarter of 2013. Although most declines were modest, such declines are notable given the pervasive and extraordinary appreciation we have been observing for many years."

While the purchase-only HPI rose 5.7 percent from the first quarter of 2015 to the first quarter of 2016, prices of other goods and services were nearly unchanged. The inflation-adjusted price of homes rose approximately 5.6 percent over the latest year.
emphasis added

And on local HPIs:

With this quarter's release, FHFA is publishing a set of experimental annual house price indexes for five-digit ZIP codes across the country from 1975―2015.​ The indexes are constructed using the typical "repeat-transactions" methodology. Unlike FHFA's other price indexes, however, the five-digit ZIP code measures are annual price measures, meaning that a single index value is produced for each year. As discussed in FHFA Working Paper 16-01, the new indexes may be valuable to analysts seeking data on localized home price movements.

I'm checking on my zip code!

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Chemical Activity Barometer increased in May

Wednesday:
• At 7:00 AM ET, he Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the results for the mortgage purchase applications index.

• At 9:00 AM, FHFA House Price Index for March 2016. This was originally a GSE only repeat sales, however there is also an expanded index.  The consensus is for a 0.5% month-to-month increase for this index.

From the ACC: Chemical Activity Barometer Accelerated for Third Consecutive Month

The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC), expanded 1.0 percent in May following a revised 0.8 percent increase in April and 0.1 percent increase in March. All data is measured on a three-month moving average (3MMA). Accounting for adjustments, the CAB remains up 2.3 percent over this time last year, a marked deceleration of activity from one year ago when the barometer logged a 2.7 percent year-over-year gain from 2014. On an unadjusted basis the CAB jumped 0.3 percent in May, following a solid 1.7 percent gain in April.
...
Applying the CAB back to 1919, it has been shown to provide a lead of two to 14 months, with an average lead of eight months at cycle peaks as determined by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The median lead was also eight months. At business cycle troughs, the CAB leads by one to seven months, with an average lead of four months. The median lead was three months. The CAB is rebased to the average lead (in months) of an average 100 in the base year (the year 2012 was used) of a reference time series. The latter is the Federal Reserve’s Industrial Production Index.

This is a leading indicator for industrial production and suggests increases in Industrial Production later this year.

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New Home Prices

As part of the new home sales report, the Census Bureau reported the number of homes sold by price and the average and median prices.

From the Census Bureau: "The median sales price of new houses sold in April 2016 was $321,100; the average sales price was $379,800."

The following graph shows the median and average new home prices.

Click on graph for larger image.

During the housing bust, the builders had to build smaller and less expensive homes to compete with all the distressed sales.  When housing started to recovery - with limited finished lots in recovering areas - builders moved to higher price points to maximize profits.

The average price in April 2016 was $379,800 and the median price was $321,100.  Both are above the bubble high (this is due to both a change in mix and rising prices).

The median is at a new high.

The second graph shows the percent of new homes sold by price.

Less than 2% of new homes sold were under $150K in April 2016.  This is down from 30% in 2002.  The under $150K new home is probably going away.

The $400K+ bracket has increased significantly.

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Rare earths stockpiling in China leads to upward price pressure

Chinese rare earths prices rise in April; MTI Chromite sand mine to close

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Comments on April New Home Sales

The new home sales report for April was very strong at 619,000 on a seasonally adjusted annual rate basis (SAAR), and combined sales for January, February and March were revised up by 44 thousand SAAR.

This was the highest sales rate since January 2008.

Sales were up 23.8% year-over-year (YoY) compared to April 2015. And sales are up 9.0% year-to-date compared to the same period in 2015.

Earlier: New Home Sales increased sharply to 619,000 Annual Rate in April.


Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows new home sales for 2015 and 2016 by month (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate).  Sales to date are up 9.0% year-over-year, mostly because of the strong sales in April.

Overall  I expect lower growth this year, probably in the 4% to 8% range.  Slower growth is likely this year because Houston (and other oil producing areas) will have a problem this year. Inventory of existing homes is increasing quickly and prices will probably decline in those areas. And that means new home construction will slow in those areas too.

And here is another update to the "distressing gap" graph that I first started posting a number of years ago to show the emerging gap caused by distressed sales.  Now I'm looking for the gap to close over the next several years.

The "distressing gap" graph shows existing home sales (left axis) and new home sales (right axis) through April 2016. This graph starts in 1994, but the relationship had been fairly steady back to the '60s.

Following the housing bubble and bust, the "distressing gap" appeared mostly because of distressed sales.

I expect existing home sales to move more sideways, and I expect this gap to slowly close, mostly from an increase in new home sales.

However, this assumes that the builders will offer some smaller, less expensive homes. If not, then the gap will persist.

Another way to look at this is a ratio of existing to new home sales.

This ratio was fairly stable from 1994 through 2006, and then the flood of distressed sales kept the number of existing home sales elevated and depressed new home sales. (Note: This ratio was fairly stable back to the early '70s, but I only have annual data for the earlier years).

In general the ratio has been trending down, and this ratio will probably continue to trend down over the next several years.

Note: Existing home sales are counted when transactions are closed, and new home sales are counted when contracts are signed. So the timing of sales is different.

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Year-over-year Change in Oil Prices

Oil prices are "only" down about 20% year-over-year (YoY), and the YoY decline has been decreasing.

So I thought I'd look at the YoY change in oil prices over the last few decades.

Click on graph for larger image

This graph shows the year-over-year change in WTI based on data from the EIA.

Five times since 1987, oil prices have increased 100% or more YoY.  And several times prices have almost fallen in half YoY.

Oil prices are volatile!  And it seems likely the YoY change will turn positive later this year.

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The Howard Stern Effect: IACCM attendees either loved us or hated us . . . likely for the same reason

This morning Kelly Barner and I received the feedback from those who attended our IACCM webinar last week.

The webinar, which was highly interactive, was based on three of the more pressing questions we had raised in our book Procurement At A Crossroads.

Here are the results:

 

From my perspective, these are great responses because there is no real middle ground . . . attendees either loved us (and what we had to say), or hated us (and what we had to say).

This reminded me of the Howard Stern movie, and in particular the following dialogue:

Researcher: The average radio listener listens for eighteen minutes. The average Howard Stern fan listens for – are you ready for this? – an hour and twenty minutes.

Show Producer: How can that be?

Researcher: Answer most commonly given? “I want to see what he’ll say next.”

Show Producer: Okay, fine. But what about the people who hate Stern?

Researcher: Good point. The average Stern hater listens for two and a half hours a day.

Show Producer: But… if they hate him, why do they listen?

Researcher: Most common answer? “I want to see what he’ll say next.”

IACCM’s CEO Tim Cummins once told me that his membership’s  involvement with the association is as follows; “5% are actively involved, 15% are moderately involved, and 80% are disconnected and not involved at all.” (Note: Based on research, the same percentage breakdown applies to most associations.)

80% are disconnected and not involved!!!

The fact is our profession and in particular the professionals in it, need to be shaken up from a lingering lethargy of ambivalence, regarding what we do and our role within the organization. This includes gaining a true understanding of our impact, and a desire to really make a difference.

This is why inspiring emotions of love or hate are so important, because at least they demonstrate a pulse and a true interest, since the expression of either emotion reflects involvement over apathy.

You can access the recording and corresponding slides through the following link . . . and yes, it is worth the price of admission: http://ift.tt/1WN4edR

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The views expressed in this post and throughout the series are the autor's own and not intended to reflect the views the YQ Matrix platform, its users or any associated organisations.

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CoreLogic: Far Fewer Low Credit Score Applicants Than Before Housing Crisis

An interesting post from Archana Pradhan at CoreLogic Far Fewer Low Credit Score Applicants Than Before Housing Crisis. An excerpt:

One of the key factors used in mortgage underwriting as well as in our Housing Credit Index is the credit score. The average borrower credit score for home-purchase originations has increased from roughly 700 in 2005 to almost 750 in 2015 (Figure 2). In 2005, the credit score for the first percentile ranged from 520 to 540 and showed a dramatic rise during the Great Recession, and is currently running in a range of 620 to 630. By just gazing at the borrowers’ credit scores, one could conclude that mortgage originations were constrained as a result of tight underwriting standards. But how has loan demand changed, particularly for the borrowers with relatively low credit scores? The origination volume is the end result of an interplay between loan applicants’ demand and lenders’ risk tolerances. Is there a way to disentangle mortgage credit supply conditions from mortgage demand?

Click on graph for larger image

This graph from CoreLogic shows the significant increase in credit scores for the first percentile of borrowers.

At first glance, this would appear to be due to tighter underwriting standards, but Pradhan looks at denial rates and asks: If Credit Underwriting Has Tightened, Why Have Denial Rates Fallen?

The data shows that demand has fallen for low credit score borrowers; either they are more cautious, or - more likely - they are discouraged from even applying. Interesting data.

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