Politics

politics

Denton County Housing Market Searching For a Soft Landing

Denton County's housing market was still searching for that soft landing in November. Home sales were down 2 percent year-over-year. Pending sales fell by nine percent. Median home prices were steady at $450,000. Ironically enough that's exactly where prices stood in November of last year. Average prices slid for the fourth consecutive month, putting them down 1 percent lower than last year. The average price of a Denton County home is $68,000 (eleven percent) lower than the bubble peak of last spring. The North Texas housing market is currently caught between The Federal Reserve's need [...]

Denton County Home Prices Fail To Recapture 2022 Peak

Denton County home prices have so far failed to recapture their 2022 highs. Official NTREIS stats show median home prices in Denton County Texas were 7 percent ($35,000) lower than May of last year. Average prices were down 6.8 percent ($40,000) year-over year. Home sales in the area were down 3.9 percent from this time last year. Stagnant sales volumes remain a theme with 6 and 7 percent interest rates taking a bite out of affordability for many prospective buyers. Pending contracts in Denton County were 7 percent lower year-over-year in May. Available home inventory [...]

Who Benefits From the Financialization of Housing and Build-to-Rent?

There are countless real estate industry professionals and consultants floating ridiculous narratives regarding single-family rentals and build-to-rent. This is as good a time as any to debunk the "we're filling a need" nonsense. What we're really taking about here is the financialization of housing and the Cantillon Effect. If you are connected to the build-to-rent industry and collect a paycheck from the financialization of single-family housing, okay. No problem with that. Want to ignore the data and look the other way. No problem. It's easy to do. Just don't expect a thinking public with working [...]

Powell Fires Warning Shot at the Housing Market

This is a rough transcript of Jerome Powell's remarks on housing during this week's post-FOMC press conference. I apologize for any errors. Powell's remarks on housing come around the 1:51 mark toward the end of the press conference. See video below. It appears Jerome has finally figured out housing inflation is a serious headwind to the Fed's efforts to curtail raging inflation. It makes you wonder what they were looking at for the entirety of 2021 when the Powell Fed was pretending inflation was transitory. Question from Bankrate's Mark Hamrick: I Wonder what your assessment [...]

Media Narrative on Housing Shortage is Comically Absurd

The current media narrative on the U.S. housing shortage is comically absurd misdirection. Numerous experts in the industry continue to float the same tired narratives and misdirection while media mouthpieces nod in agreement. It's truly sad to watch. News segments offering up explanations of our housing affordability crisis look more like industry infomercials. According the Wall Street arm of the housing industry renting is the new American dream. Wall Street predators are just filling the gap, providing much-needed housing in a time of need. Just a few days ago our local CBS affiliate ran this [...]

New Home Sales Rise in December, But Headwinds Mounting

New home sales were a bit better than expected in December. The Census Bureau reported new home sales at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 811,000 units. Previous months were revised lower. The median price of new home came in at $377,700. The average price of new construction contracted in December was $457,300. New home sales are still suffering from supply constraints. Completed inventory remains very low while the number of units technically for sale remains very high. Looking at unadjusted numbers out of the 408,000 homes "for sale" at the end of December [...]

Robert Kaplan Takes Early Retirement From Dallas Fed Amid Trading Scandal

The Dallas Fed's Robert Kaplan and Boston Fed chief Eric Rosengren announced they will be taking early retirement. Revelations of dubious trading activity by various Fed officials have weighed heavily on the credibility of the Federal Reserve in recent weeks. It's about time! It's not like the Fed had much credibility left to salvage. FOMC officials have demonstrated time and time again they have no shame. The internet was quick to chime in on the news of Kaplan and Rosengren's early retirement, but the best take of all has to be from Pam & Russ [...]

Powell Inflating the Housing Market with Fed MBS Purchases

Pinocchio Powell has no answer as to why the Federal Reserve is still inflating the housing market with MBS purchases to the tune of $40 billion per month. Despite a ridiculously overheated housing market with no inventory and double-digit price increases the Federal Reserve is going to continue the purchase of mortgage-backed-securities.  The latest FOMC statement and press conference just confirmed more of the same from the Powell Fed. "Overall financial conditions remain accommodative, in part reflecting policy measures to support the economy and the flow of credit to U.S. households and businesses. The path [...]

Denton County Residents Endure Loss and Hardship in Texas Power Grid Failure

Thousands of Denton County residents endured power outages, water outages and other hardships during the past week. Dozens of people have died across the state due to weather-related events, and the federal government has declared Texas a national disaster. The sad part is that the power outages and rolling blackouts leading to loss of life and untold economic damage was largely a preventable, man-made disaster. All the warning signs were there, but the warnings were ignored, and many power generators brushed off the risk of a major winter event in Texas' loosely regulated electricity market. [...]

Contracts For North Texas Home Purchases Still Shrinking

I have been monitoring the contracts for home purchases in the North Texas area since last week, and the numbers are not encouraging. The number of active option contract properties (listings where the home has gone under contract with a buyer option to back out) continues to shrink. This is not surprising considering the economic backdrop, but it also points to a more prolonged downturn than many in the real estate industry were expecting. Pending sales data for March will not be pretty, but the April data for North Texas home sales could be an [...]

Go to Top