Morning Report: Rates continue to move lower

Vital Statistics:

Stocks are lower as trade fears dominate the market’s mood. Bonds and MBS are up (yields down). The 10 year hit 2.07% in the overnight session.

On the open, it is looking like mortgage backed securities are lagging the move in Treasuries. Prepayment speed worries are behind it. It may take a couple of days for mortgage rates to catch up.

The upcoming week will have a slew of important economic data, with construction spending, the ISM numbers and the jobs report on Friday. Productivity and costs will be another key number, although the Fed is more worried about a slowdown than an acceleration of inflation. After that, the Fed goes into their quiet period ahead of the FOMC meeting in two weeks.

Housing affordability is at its strongest in about a year, according to Black Knight Financial. The annual rate of housing inflation fell below the 25 year average of home price appreciation for the first time since 2012. 22% of median income was required to purchase the average house, which is will below the historical average of around 25%. Most of that has to do with lower interest rates, but slowing home price appreciation and rising incomes have been the drivers there.

According to Sentier Research, the median income in March of 2019 was $64,016. NAR has the median home price at $267,300. This puts the median house price to median income ratio at just under 4.2x. This is still elevated compared to historical numbers, but low interest rates offset the high multiple.

Affordability issues are driving a new business model for builders in some high-cost areas: build to rent. Toll Brothers is going to spend something like $60 million in a joint venture to build rental properties. “Renting by choice” is one of the new consumer trends, and it may not be going anywhere. The plan is to stick rental properties in planned communities that are more or less identical to neighboring properties. Why would people choose to rent? If they are worried about another housing bubble, they shouldn’t. That isn’t going to happen again for a long, long time. If they believe they need a 20% down payment, then the industry has an education job to do. If they are doing it because they want the freedom to move easily, that will probably change once they have kids.

Construction spending was flat in April, according to the Census Bureau. Residential was down 0.6% MOM and 11.2% YOY.

Author: Brent Nyitray

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