Housing Policy

housing policy

New Home Sales Exceed Expectations With Powell Priming The Pump

The Census Bureau reported new home sales for January at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 923,000 units. That's a 4.3 percent increase from revised December figures and 19.3 percent higher than January of last year. Previous months were also revised higher. The median price of a new home came in at $346,400. The average price of a new home contracted in January was $408,800. That's a new record high for average new home prices in the U.S....in January. The supply of new homes available for sale dipped to 4.0 months. New home sales in [...]

Denton County Housing Market Now Dependent On Fed Liquidity

The Denton County housing market is now a dependent of the Fed. Over 3 $trillion in quantitative easing has ramped home prices to record highs while driving inventory to record lows. North Texas housing no longer resembles a normal market. Borrowers can now be in COVID mortgage forbearance for up to 15 months while the Fed is busy blowing another massive asset bubble. The American Enterprise Institute has called out the Federal Reserve for blatantly distorting the housing market, but the Fed is still flooding the system with liquidity. Some FOMC officials are calling for [...]

AEI: The Fed is Misdiagnosing Monetary Policy’s Effect on the Housing Market

The American Enterprise Institute is taking the Federal Reserve to task for its bubble-blowing monetary policy. The AEI' latest report on housing market indicators is a wonderful composition detailing how Federal Reserve monetary policy has fueled massive home price appreciation and speculation in the the U.S. housing market. It's refreshing to see that others calling the Powell Fed out for blatantly obvious asset price distortions. With Powell continuing the denial and misdirection, the problems are likely to get worse before they get better. I would encourage you to read the entire AEI Housing Center report [...]

New Home Sales Rise Slightly, Up 15.2 Percent Year-over-Year

New home sales rose 1.6 percent in December according to Census estimates. The seasonally adjusted annual rate of 842,000 translates into a 15.2 percent increase from December of 2019. The median price of a new home sold in December 2020 was $355,900. The average price was $394,900. The median price of a new U.S. home rose $26,400, or 8 percent in the middle of a global pandemic even as millions of Americans were losing their jobs. If that's not a testament to the power of central bank liquidity, I don't know what is. The inventory [...]

Bombshell: Houston Agents Caught Steering Buyers Away From Homes With Lower Commissions

On November 2020 the National Association of Realtors settled its antitrust case with the Department of Justice, agreeing to a number of reforms over how MLS boards operate. The settlement also addressed how Realtors compete in their local markets. We now have more understanding of why the case was filed, and why it was settled. The Houston Chronicle is reporting on how several Houston area agents were caught on tape steering buyers away from homes which did not offer three percent commissions. Last year the Department of Justice announced the lawsuit against NAR and the [...]

North Texas Housing Bubble Gasping For Air

The North Texas housing bubble was gasping for air in December. Inventory continued to dry up across the Dallas Fort Worth market, helping to push median and average home prices up 9.7 percent and 12.3 percent respectively. Prices on a per square foot basis hit fresh new highs in North Texas as 2020 came to a close. Ironically we saw a bevy of Federal Reserve officials calling for more inflation in the economy last week while home prices were posting double-digit year-over-year gains. North Texas home sales were up 16 percent from December of 2019. [...]

New Home Sales Level Off With Rates Near Record Lows

New home sales have leveled off now that mortgage interest rates stagnating at record lows. It would appear the massive stimulus from the Fed which began in March of this year has run its course. The big question is what comes next. The Census Bureau reported new residential home sales for October at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 999,000 units. This was better than expected and previous months were revised upward as well. Compared to October of last year, new home sales rose 41 percent. Median and average prices of new homes sold (contracted) [...]

New Home Sales Highest Since 2006

New home sales for August came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 1,011,000 units. This was above expectations depending on who you were asking. The August figures from Census put U.S. new home sales up 4.8 percent from July, and up a whopping 43.2 percent from August 2019. New home sales were at the highest levels since 2006. Previous months were also revised higher. The median price of a new home in August was $312,800. The average price came in at $369,000. Both figures are lower than prices for July and down [...]

North Texas Real Estate Market Partying Like It’s 1999

The North Texas real estate market continued to ramp higher in August. Median home prices in Denton County jumped 6.3 percent last month, with average prices rising 7.4 percent compared to a year ago. Denton County home sales increased 10 percent, while pending sales for Denton County homes shot 33 percent. Home buyers are still riding that wave of liquidity, and who can blame them. Mortgage rates just hit a new record low in the latest weekly survey, with the rate on the 30-year fixed dropping to 2.86 percent. Those low rates helped push North [...]

Adverse Market Refinance Fee Pours Cold Water On Refi Party

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) just poured cold water on the refi party with an Adverse Market Refinance Fee. Although rates may still be near record lows, come September 1st refinance mortgages will incur an additional 0.5% fee. Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be raising their fees for refinance mortgages as part of an effort to shore up capital reserve buffers. Apparently FHFA is worried about increasing risk of the GSEs loan portfolios. There are still close to 4 million American borrowers on mortgage forbearance programs. What happens when those programs end [...]

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