Morning Report: 2019 housing forecasts are similar to 2018

Vital Statistics:

Stocks are lower this morning as investors return from the long weekend. Bonds and MBS are flat.

There isn’t much in the way of market-moving data this week, although we will get some housing data with existing home sales, the FHFA House Price Index, and New Home Sales.

President Trump plans on ending the practice of allowing waivers for countries that import oil from Iran. Oil is up over a buck this morning on the news. China, India, and Turkey are Iran’s biggest customers.

The economy looks like it exited the first quarter with a pickup in growth, according to the Chicago Fed National Activity Index. The first quarter has been weak for the past several years, and it looks like that pattern repeated this year. Employment-related indicators drove the improvement in the index.

Fannie Mae is forecasting 2.2% GDP for 2019. On one hand, Fannie Mae expects to see growth impacted by the fading effects of the 2018 tax cuts and slowing corporate capital expenditures. On the other hand, they are forecasting a pickup in housing. Falling interest rates have been a pleasant surprise, and refinance activity is expected to be a bit higher than previously forecast. That said, prepayment burnout is pretty high at this point, and home price appreciation is probably going to drive refi activity more than interest rates.

“On housing, the recent dip in mortgage rates to their lowest level in over a year – combined with wage gains and home price deceleration – supports our contention that home sales will stabilize in 2019,” Duncan continued. “The greatest impediment to both sales and affordability continues to be on the supply side, as new inventory, particularly among existing homes, is being met quickly by strong demand – as evidenced by the already thin months’ supply hitting a new one-year low.”

Grant Thornton believes that a shortage of entry-level homes will be a constraint on the housing industry this year. “The escalating costs of materials have triggered production cuts; recent tariffs on imported materials, like lumber from Canada, have also pushed up costs at the same time that labor shortages have intensified,” Swonk wrote in her report. “The cheap labor – immigrants – that once made new housing affordable has all but disappeared.” They expect the median home price to rise 3.5% this year, compared to 4.8% in 2018. Existing home sales are expected to be unchanged at 5.9 million.

Author: Brent Nyitray

In the physical sciences, knowledge is cumulative. In the financial markets, it is cyclical View all posts by Brent Nyitray