Eye On Housing
Author Archives
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Homeowners Cautious with Lines of Credit Despite Equity Gains
The current release of the Federal Reserve’s Z.1 Financial Accounts report of the U.S., also known as the flow of funds report, shows a continuing increase in the market value of households in the U.S. Mortgage debt continues to expand as well, albeit at a much slower pace. The aggregate market value of houses represents assets on households’ balance sheets,… Read More ›
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Consumer Credit Posts Highest Yearly Increase Since July 2017
The Federal Reserve’s latest G.19 Consumer Credit Report shows rising trends in consumer credit, excluding loans secured by real estate, through April 2019. As of April 30, 2019, consumer credit totaled $4.1 trillion on a seasonally adjusted basis, with $1.1 trillion in revolving debt1 and $3.0 trillion in nonrevolving debt2. The latest monthly year-over-year percentage increase of 5.3% in the… Read More ›
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Small City Single-Family Building Growth Slowing
After several years of steady construction gains, single-family construction in small cities experienced a net deceleration of growth going into 2019. Such areas represent 37% of all single-family construction nationwide. With a population of nearly 95 million, small cities in the U.S. account for about 30% of the U.S. population and therefore serve as a good “demographic and economic microcosm”… Read More ›
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Single-Family Market Share Change
As tracked by the NAHB HBGI, the changing geographic shares of single-family construction across the U.S. reflect the evolution of home building. As can be seen from the above figure, the market share of single-family permits for small city core areas declined slightly over the last eight years, starting initially from a little less than 30% of single-family home construction… Read More ›
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Purchase Mortgages and Refinancing Slump Amid Trade Disputes
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Application Survey’s latest survey cites the ongoing trade dispute with China as a source of worry for potential homeowners holding off home buying. As Treasury yields have fallen in the past few weeks, so too has the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage (FRM). On a seasonally adjusted basis, refinancing activity fell by 6.0% from the previous week…. Read More ›
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HBGI Shows Multifamily Gains in Small Towns and Rural Areas
NAHB analysis of multifamily construction permits over the last four quarters indicates relatively higher growth rates in less populated areas. A prior post reviewed the newly released Home Building Geography Index (HBGI) through the perspective of single-family permit activity. This post examines multifamily construction as classified into the seven HBGI regional geographies, as differentiated by urban density. Economic theory suggests… Read More ›
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Exurbs Grow During a Weak First Quarter per NAHB HBGI
Following the Great Recession, the National Association of Home Builders created the Leading Market Index (LMI) to track the recovery of the housing market based on three factors: employment, house price indices, and housing construction. As the recovery transitioned into a period in which supply-side elements (land, labor, lumber, lending and laws) were limiting factors and housing affordability declined, the… Read More ›
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“Seriously Delinquent” Loans Decline
The quarterly National Delinquency Survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association shows a decline in the serious delinquency rate across all the categories of loans, continuing the downward trend that has persisted since the middle of the Great Recession. These categories of loans are Conventional loans, VA loans, and FHA-insured loans, for which the serious delinquency rates as of March 2019… Read More ›
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Lending Conditions Tighten (But Less than Expected)
The recently released results of the Federal Reserve Board’s quarterly Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey (SLOOS) show some tightening of lending conditions in the first quarter of 2019. While many banks reported that their standards in approving applications for credit cards from individuals or households tightened somewhat, overall, the tightening was not as much as they had anticipated, when they… Read More ›
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Consumer Credit Increases in March
The latest data from the Federal Reserve Board’s G.19 Consumer Credit Report show an increase in consumer credit at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.3% during the first quarter of 2019. During this time, revolving credit1 increased by 1.4% and nonrevolving credit2 increased by 5.3%. At the end of the first quarter, total outstanding consumer credit totaled $4.1 trillion…. Read More ›