Economy

Economic Issues Affecting Texas Housing Markets

The Truth About DFW Housing Demand

The Dallas Morning News real estate desk just floated an interesting piece on housing demand in the DFW real estate market. According to the regurgitated Zillow source, almost 40 percent of Dallas area homes sold for more than asking price last year, and the median amount buyers paid over asking price was 5.7 percent or $12,023. Fortunately we have data from the North Texas Real Estate Information System to do a quick fact-check on this story. As it turns out Zillow's story doesn't hold water. Looking at the source of the Zillow story showing buyers chomping [...]

December Jobs Growth Misses, Wage Growth Still Weak

Yesterday I was musing about the expected rise in inflation and bond yields that so many professional pundits and talking heads are expecting in 2018. That's the story being bantered about on various mainstream cable news puppet shows. Today we received another reality check on that "pent up demand" and overheating labor market story as the December Jobs Report painted a rather lackluster finish to 2017. The BLS Employment Situation showed an increase of 148,000 jobs in December. That's the good news from the establishment survey. The Household survey (Table A) showed an increase of [...]

Misguided Expectations For Inflation And Bond Yields In 2018

The Federal Reserve has proven they are devoid of credibility when it comes to their advertised mandates of full employment and price stability. What the Fed is good at is the same thing it has always been good at...blowing bubbles and serving the interests of Wall Street banks. Thus it should come as no surprise that many of the clueless PhD economists working for the Federal Reserve are calling for an uptick in inflation in 2018. You know, because the labor market is so "tight" and current inflation is still tepid. The Fed of course [...]

Denton County Real Estate 2018: All Eyes On The Fed

As we embrace the new year, and the freezing temperatures that arrived with it, Denton County real estate prices continued to climb higher as sales continue to grow at a measured pace. The housing boom seen during the last 4-5 years has been impressive by any standards. As the Fed continues its much anticipated balance sheet "normalization", there is a lot at stake for local real estate markets.  The U.S. housing market is now heavily dependent on Fed stimulus, in the form of artificially depressed mortgage interest rates, and the artificial "wealth effect" created by [...]

Fed Balance Sheet Unwind Proceeding At Snails Pace

The balance sheet unwind for the Federal Reserve is proceeding at a snails pace. After a rather large jump in the securities holdings last week, we should have seen a resumption in the balance sheet shrinkage. Interestingly the Fed's holdings of Treasury and mortgage securities only fell by $4.8 billion this past week. A look at the weekly System Open Market Account Holdings shows there is a lot of work to do in the last week of the year if the Fed is going to stick to it's stated unwind schedule. While the Fed has [...]

Denton County Home Prices Closing Year On High Note

Denton County home prices and sales volume have remained strong into the holiday season. After experiencing a soft patch in September home sales in Denton County resumed their march higher. It would appear that home prices in the Denton area are poised to hit new highs at the end of the year if momentum continues. Median home prices in Denton were about 3 percent higher through November, while median prices in Denton County jumped 11 percent compared to a year ago. Average prices in Denton County also reflect a 10 percent increase through November. Denton [...]

Mortgage Interest Deduction In Play, 2018 Housing Market Still Cloudy

The controversial mortgage interest deduction is still in play if you follow the back and forth in DC, and the picture for housing is still rather cloudy. There is a lot which could change depending on what Congress tries to ram through reconciliation in terms of the House and Senate tax sausage. Regardless of what Congress and the GOP approve, you can rest assured it won't stimulate job growth and it won't contribute to long-term economic growth. What we are seeing play out in the halls of DC and Wall Street right now is a [...]

Flattening Yield Curve & Spiraling Debt – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

All is well in the land of rainbows and unicorns. At least that's the message being floated from DC and their Wall Street handlers. Apparently the economic "recovery" has been so robust that Janet and company at the FOMC have even starting to unwind that massive hedge fund, even if they are doing so at a snails pace. As Professor Anthony Sanders noted, at the current pace of normalization the Fed will manage to unwind the mess they have created in a mere 7 years. Despite all of the rhetoric about tax cuts and economic [...]

New Home Sales Jump In October, Average Prices Hit New High

New home sales continued to enjoy a hurricane-related boost in October. The Census Bureau reported new single-family home sales at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 685,000, up 6.2 percent from revised September numbers and 18.7 percent higher than a year ago. The median price of a new home in October was $312,800 while the average price of a new home was $400,200. The talking heads will no doubt see this as a boon for the housing industry, and the numbers are certainly encouraging. That being said, I wouldn't read too much into the volatile [...]

Average New Home Size Continues To Shrink

The National Association of Home Builders reported that the median and average size of a new home in the U.S. continued to decline in the third quarter. Third quarter numbers on housing starts show that the median single-family new home size was 2,378 square feet.  The average square footage for new single-family homes declined to 2,518 square feet. According to the NAHB, this is apparently just part of the normal housing cycle. "The post-recession increase in single-family home size is consistent with the historical pattern coming out of recessions. Typical new home size falls prior to and during a [...]

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