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2018

DR Horton Posts Higher Sales And Orders On Lower Average Prices

Dallas-Fort Worth-based DR Horton released fourth quarter numbers showing an 11 percent increase in home closings for the latest three months ending September 30. The company also posted a 11 percent jump in new net sales orders for the fiscal fourth quarter. With 51,857 homes sold during the past year, DR Horton still edges out Lennar as the country's largest home builder by volume. While DR Horton posted solid results on new home sales and profitability in the latest quarter, the housing slowdown is still evident digging into the company's latest numbers. In the midst [...]

LGI Homes Stock Nosedives As Q3 Sales Decline 7.4% With Higher Community Count

Woodlands based LGI Homes posted third quarter results that didn't impress the market. Home closings fell 7.4% in the latest quarter. More concerning is that LGI's sales decline occurred as the community count increased from 77 to 81. As I have detailed for much of the year, publicly-traded home builders are struggling to match the shift in consumer demand toward less expensive homes. As their order growth has stalled with higher mortgage rates, builder stock prices have suffered. LGI's problems are more complex. I suspect that LGI's problems go beyond just average prices. LGI already builds [...]

Toll Brothers Stock Trips On Higher Cancellation Rate

Luxury home builder Toll Brothers reported fiscal second quarter results today, and Mr. Market was not amused. Toll Brothers net income declined for the latest quarter as did income from operations. Income from operations fell from 10.1 percent of revenues last year to 8.4 percent of revenues in Q2 2018. Perhaps more concerning was the jump in Toll's cancellation rate, rising from 3.5 percent last year to 5.2 percent in the second quarter of 2018. While the absolute percentage may seem small, this is actually a significant development when you consider that Toll can be extremely [...]

Meritage: “Strong Demand For Entry Level Homes” Drives New Orders Increase

Meritage Homes reported first quarter sales yesterday, and the publicly traded home builder admitted what many, including myself, have been saying. New home prices have eclipsed the threshold of what most Americans can afford (or are willing) to pay. Meritage saw a 2 percent increase in closed sales for the quarter on average new home prices that were up by just 1 percent. New orders grew 10 percent compared to the same quarter last year on average sales prices that were 2 percent lower. This is the dilemma now facing most new home builders with [...]

Another Fed “Senior Economist” Demonstrates Willful Ignorance

The Federal Reserve and its army of economists continue to demonstrate willful ignorance of their failed policies. This week it was the Kansas City Fed's Jordan Rappaport who penned another dose of misdirection on the housing market. Rappaport's piece, "Pent-Up Demand and Continuing Price Increases: The Outlook for Housing in 2018" is yet another example of how the Federal Reserve touts itself as a champion of real economy while they continue toe the line for Wall Street and wealthy investors. In the usual captured culture of Fed Mr. Rappaport lays out the theme of continued [...]

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 [...]

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