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Wednesday, August 31, 2022

MBA: Mortgage Applications Decrease in Latest Weekly Survey

by Calculated Risk on 8/31/2022 07:00:00 AM

From the MBA: Mortgage Applications Decrease in Latest MBA Weekly Survey

Mortgage applications decreased 3.7 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending August 26, 2022.

... The Refinance Index decreased 8 percent from the previous week and was 83 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 2 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 4 percent compared with the previous week and was 23 percent lower than the same week one year ago.

“The 30-year fixed mortgage rate increased for the second week in a row to 5.80 percent, reaching its highest level since mid-July. Mortgage rates and Treasury yields rose last week as Federal Reserve officials indicated that short-term rates would stay higher for longer. Mortgage rates have been volatile over the past month, bouncing between 5.4 percent and 5.8 percent,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting. “In another sign that market volatility has picked up, the average rate on a jumbo loan was 5.32 percent, 48 basis points lower than for a conforming loan. This spread reached a high of over 50 basis points in July – and had narrowed – before now widening again.”

Added Kan, “Application volume dropped and remained at a multi-decade low last week, led by an 8 percent decline in refinance applications, which now make up only 30 percent of all applications. Purchase applications have declined in eight of the last nine weeks, as demand continues to shrink due to higher rates and a weaker economic outlook. However, rising inventories and slower home-price growth could potentially bring some buyers back into the market later this year.”
...
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($647,200 or less) increased to 5.80 percent from 5.65 percent, with points increasing to 0.71 from 0.68 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans.
emphasis added
Mortgage Refinance IndexClick on graph for larger image.


The first graph shows the refinance index since 1990.

With higher mortgage rates, the refinance index has declined sharply over the last several months.

The refinance index is at the lowest level since the year 2000.

The second graph shows the MBA mortgage purchase index

Mortgage Purchase Index According to the MBA, purchase activity is down 23% year-over-year unadjusted.

The purchase index is now only 9% above the pandemic low.

Note: Red is a four-week average (blue is weekly).

Tuesday, August 30, 2022

Wednesday: ADP Employment, Chicago PMI

by Calculated Risk on 8/30/2022 09:00:00 PM

Wednesday:
• At 7:00 AM ET, The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the results for the mortgage purchase applications index.

• At 8:15 AM, The ADP Employment Report for August. This report is for private payrolls only (no government). This is the first release of a new methodology.

• At 9:45 AM, Chicago Purchasing Managers Index for August.

On COVID (focus on hospitalizations and deaths):


COVID Metrics
 NowWeek
Ago
Goal
New Cases per Day282,47591,792≤5,0001
Hospitalized231,60133,900≤3,0001
Deaths per Day2387433≤501
1my goals to stop daily posts,
27-day average for Cases, Currently Hospitalized, and Deaths
🚩 Increasing 7-day average week-over-week for Cases, Hospitalized, and Deaths
✅ Goal met.

COVID-19 Deaths per DayClick on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the daily (columns) and 7-day average (line) of deaths reported.

Average daily deaths bottomed in July 2021 at 214 per day.

Las Vegas July 2022: Visitor Traffic Down 5.3% Compared to 2019

by Calculated Risk on 8/30/2022 02:08:00 PM

Note: I like using Las Vegas as a measure of recovery for both leisure (visitors) and business (conventions).

From the Las Vegas Visitor Authority: July 2022 Las Vegas Visitor Statistics

July saw the highest monthly visitation since the start of the pandemic, reaching nearly 3.5M visitors for the month, up 5.7% YoY and just 5.3% below the July 2019 tally.

Overall hotel occupancy reached 83.4%, 4.0 pts ahead of last July but down 7.7 pts vs. July 2019. Weekend occupancy exceeded 91% (up 3.0 pts YoY but down 6.1 pts vs. July 2019), while Midweek occupancy reached 79.1% (up 4.5 pts YoY but down 9.6 pts vs. July 2019).

ADR exceeded $160, 5.5% ahead of last July and over 26% above July 2019 while RevPAR approached $134 for the month, +10.8% YoY and +15.7% over July 2019
Las Vegas Visitor Traffic Click on graph for larger image.

The first graph shows visitor traffic for 2019 (dark blue), 2020 (light blue), 2021 (yellow) and 2022 (red)

Visitor traffic was down 5.3% compared to the same month in 2019.

Visitor traffic was up 5.7% compared to last July.

The second graph shows convention traffic.

Las Vegas Visitor Traffic
Convention traffic was down 38.4% compared to July 2019.

Note: There was almost no convention traffic from April 2020 through May 2021.

Comments on June Case-Shiller and FHFA House Price Increases

by Calculated Risk on 8/30/2022 10:16:00 AM

Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: Case-Shiller National House Price Index "Decelerated" to 18.0% year-over-year increase in June

Excerpt:

Both the Case-Shiller House Price Index (HPI) and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) HPI for June were released today. Here is a graph of the month-over-month (MoM) change in the Case-Shiller National Index Seasonally Adjusted (SA).

The Case-Shiller Home Price Indices for “June” is a 3-month average of April, May and June closing prices. June closing prices include some contracts signed in February, so there is a significant lag to this data.

Case-Shiller MoM House PricesThe MoM increase in Case-Shiller was at 0.33%. This was the smallest MoM increase since June 2020, and since this includes closings in April and May, this suggests price growth stalled in June.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, prices declined in 7 of the 20 Case-Shiller cities: Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego, Portland, Los Angeles, Denver and Washington, DC all saw price declines in the June report.
There is much more in the article. You can subscribe at https://calculatedrisk.substack.com/

BLS: Job Openings "Little Changed" at 11.2 million in July

by Calculated Risk on 8/30/2022 10:06:00 AM

From the BLS: Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary

The number of job openings was little changed at 11.2 million on the last business day of July, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Hires and total separations were little changed at 6.4 million and 5.9 million, respectively. Within separations, quits (4.2 million) and layoffs and discharges (1.4 million) were little changed.
emphasis added
The following graph shows job openings (black line), hires (dark blue), Layoff, Discharges and other (red column), and Quits (light blue column) from the JOLTS.

This series started in December 2000.

Note: The difference between JOLTS hires and separations is similar to the CES (payroll survey) net jobs headline numbers. This report is for July, the employment report this Friday will be for August.

Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey Click on graph for larger image.

Note that hires (dark blue) and total separations (red and light blue columns stacked) are usually pretty close each month. This is a measure of labor market turnover.  When the blue line is above the two stacked columns, the economy is adding net jobs - when it is below the columns, the economy is losing jobs.

The spike in layoffs and discharges in March 2020 is labeled, but off the chart to better show the usual data.

Jobs openings increased in July to 11.239 million from 11.040 million in June.

The number of job openings (black) were up 4% year-over-year. 

Quits were up 2% year-over-year. These are voluntary separations. (See light blue columns at bottom of graph for trend for "quits").

Case-Shiller: National House Price Index "Decelerated" to 18.0% year-over-year increase in June

by Calculated Risk on 8/30/2022 09:12:00 AM

S&P/Case-Shiller released the monthly Home Price Indices for June ("June" is a 3-month average of April, May and June closing prices).

This release includes prices for 20 individual cities, two composite indices (for 10 cities and 20 cities) and the monthly National index.

From S&P: S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller Index Decelerated in June

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, reported an 18.0% annual gain in June, down from 19.9% in the previous month. The 10-City Composite annual increase came in at 17.4%, down from 19.1% in the previous month. The 20-City Composite posted an 18.6% year-over-year gain, down from 20.5% in the previous month.

Tampa, Miami, and Dallas reported the highest year-over-year gains among the 20 cities in June. Tampa led the way with a 35.0% year-over-year price increase, followed by Miami in second with a 33.0% increase, and Dallas in third with a 28.2% increase. Only one of the 20 cities reported higher price increases in the year ending June 2022 versus the year ending May 2022.
...
Before seasonal adjustment, the U.S. National Index posted a 0.6% month-over-month increase in June, while the 10-City and 20-City Composites both posted increases of 0.4%.

After seasonal adjustment, the U.S. National Index posted a month-over-month increase of 0.3%, and the 10-City and 20-City Composites posted increases of 0.3% and 0.4%, respectively.

In June, 13 cities reported increases before and after seasonal adjustments.

“The deceleration in U.S. housing prices that we began to observe several months ago continued in June 2022, as the National Composite Index rose by 18.0% on a year-over-year basis,” says Craig J. Lazzara, Managing Director at S&P DJI. “Relative to May’s 19.9% gain (and April’s 20.6%), prices are clearly increasing at a slower rate. This pattern is consistent with our 10-City Composite (up 17.4% in June vs. 19.1% in May) and our 20-City Composite (up 18.6% in June vs. 20.5% in May). It’s important to bear in mind that deceleration and decline are two entirely different things, and that prices are still rising at a robust clip. June’s growth rates for all three composites are at or above the 95th percentile of historical experience. For the first six months of 2022, in fact, the National Composite is up 10.6%. In the last 35 years, only four complete years have witnessed increases that large."
emphasis added
Case-Shiller House Prices Indices Click on graph for larger image.

The first graph shows the nominal seasonally adjusted Composite 10, Composite 20 and National indices (the Composite 20 was started in January 2000).

The Composite 10 index is up 0.3% in June (SA).

The Composite 20 index is up 0,4% (SA) in June.

The National index is 66% above the bubble peak (SA), and up 0.3% (SA) in June.  The National index is up 136% from the post-bubble low set in February 2012 (SA).

Case-Shiller House Prices Indices The second graph shows the year-over-year change in all three indices.

The Composite 10 SA is up 17.4% year-over-year.  The Composite 20 SA is up 18.6% year-over-year.

The National index SA is up 18.0% year-over-year.

Price increases were lower than expectations.  I'll have more later.

Monday, August 29, 2022

Pace of Rent Increases Continues to Slow

by Calculated Risk on 8/29/2022 11:39:00 PM

Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: Pace of Rent Increases Continues to Slow

A brief excerpt:

Here is a graph of the year-over-year (YoY) change for these measures since January 2015. All of these measures are through July 2022 (Apartment List through August 2022).

Note that new lease measures (Zillow, Apartment List) dipped early in the pandemic, whereas the BLS measures were steady. Then new leases took off, and the BLS measures are picking up.
...
The Zillow measure is up 13.2% YoY in July, down from 14.9% YoY in June. This is down from a peak of 17.2% YoY in February.

The ApartmentList measure is up 10.0% YoY as of August, down from 12.3% in July. This is down from the peak of 18.0% YoY last November.

Case-Shiller House Prices IndicesRents are still increasing, and we should expect this to continue to spill over into measures of inflation in 2022. The Owners’ Equivalent Rent (OER) was up 5.8% YoY in July, from 5.5% YoY in June - and will likely increase further in the coming months.
...
My suspicion is rent increases will slow further over the coming months as the pace of household formation slows, and more supply comes on the market. For example, the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) recently reported that markets tightness only increased slightly in their July survey.
There is much more in the article. You can subscribe at https://calculatedrisk.substack.com/

Tuesday: Case-Shiller House Prices, Job Openings

by Calculated Risk on 8/29/2022 09:01:00 PM

Tuesday:
• At 9:00 AM ET, S&P/Case-Shiller House Price Index for June. The consensus is for a 20.6% year-over-year increase in the Comp 20 index for June.

• Also at 9:00 AM, FHFA House Price Index for June. This was originally a GSE only repeat sales, however there is also an expanded index.

• At 10:00 AM, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for July from the BLS.

On COVID (focus on hospitalizations and deaths):


COVID Metrics
 NowWeek
Ago
Goal
New Cases per Day282,04494,012≤5,0001
Hospitalized229,54834,153≤3,0001
Deaths per Day2396436≤501
1my goals to stop daily posts,
27-day average for Cases, Currently Hospitalized, and Deaths
🚩 Increasing 7-day average week-over-week for Cases, Hospitalized, and Deaths
✅ Goal met.

COVID-19 Deaths per DayClick on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the daily (columns) and 7-day average (line) of deaths reported.

Average daily deaths bottomed in July 2021 at 214 per day.

30-Year Mortgage Rates Pushing 6% Again

by Calculated Risk on 8/29/2022 03:59:00 PM

Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: 30-Year Mortgage Rates Pushing 6% Again

Excerpt:

After reaching 6.28% on June 14th, 30-year mortgage rates decreased to a low of 5.05% on August 1st according to Mortgagenewsdaily.com. Since then, rates have been moving up, and rates increased today to 5.95%, probably due to Fed Chair Powell’s speech on Friday.

Mortgage Rates... Not only was Powell suggesting that a 75bp rate hike was possible in September (although most analysts expect 50bp), but he also cautioned against the view of a “pivot” in 2023 with the Fed cutting rates.
There is much more in the article. You can subscribe at https://calculatedrisk.substack.com/

Update: Framing Lumber Prices Up Slightly Year-over-year

by Calculated Risk on 8/29/2022 12:28:00 PM

Here is another monthly update on framing lumber prices.

This graph shows CME random length framing futures through August 29th.


Lumber was at $511 per 1000 board feet this morning.  

This is down from the peak of $1,733, and up 5% from $485 a year ago.

Prices are still up sharply from the pre-pandemic levels of around $400.

Lumber PricesClick on graph for larger image.

There is somewhat of a seasonal demand for lumber, and lumber prices usually peak in April or May, although peaked earlier this year due to the housing slowdown.

Prices are near the lows for 2021, and it is unlikely we will see a runup in prices as happened at the end of last year.

Housing Inventory August 29th Update

by Calculated Risk on 8/29/2022 09:31:00 AM

Inventory is still increasing, but the inventory build has slowed over the last two months.    Still, inventory is increasing faster than in 2019 at this time of year.  Here are the same week inventory changes for the last four years:


2022: +3.3K
2021: -0.4K
2020: -2.1K
2019: +2.8K

Inventory bottomed seasonally at the beginning of March 2022 and is now up 130% since then.  More than double!  Altos reports inventory is up 28.7% year-over-year and is now 26.8% above the peak last year.

Altos Home Inventory Click on graph for larger image.

This inventory graph is courtesy of Altos Research.

As of August 26th, inventory was at 555 thousand (7-day average), compared to 551 thousand the prior week.  Inventory was up 0.6% from the previous week. 

Inventory is still historically low. Compared to the same week in 2021, inventory is up 28.7% from 431 thousand, however compared to the same week in 2020 inventory is down 6.2% from 592 thousand.  Compared to 3 years ago, inventory is down 42.4% from 963 thousand.

Here are the inventory milestones I’m watching for with the Altos data:

1. The seasonal bottom (happened on March 4th for Altos) ✅

2. Inventory up year-over-year (happened on May 13th for Altos) ✅

3. Inventory up compared to two years ago (currently down 6.2% according to Altos)

4. Inventory up compared to 2019 (currently down 42.4%).

Altos Home Inventory
Here is a graph of the inventory change vs 2021, 2020 (milestone 3 above) and 2019 (milestone 4).

The blue line is the year-over-year data, the red line is compared to two years ago, and dashed purple is compared to 2019.

Two years ago (in 2020) inventory was declining all year, so the two-year comparison will get easier all year.  

Based on the recent increases in inventory, my current estimate is inventory will be up compared to 2020 in late September of this year.

A key will be if inventory keeps increasing in September.   

Mike Simonsen discusses this data regularly on Youtube.

Four High Frequency Indicators for the Economy

by Calculated Risk on 8/29/2022 08:22:00 AM

These indicators are mostly for travel and entertainment.    It is interesting to watch these sectors recover as the pandemic subsides.  Notes: I've added back gasoline supplied to see if there is an impact from higher gasoline prices.


----- Airlines: Transportation Security Administration -----

The TSA is providing daily travel numbers.

This data is as of August 28th.

TSA Traveler Data Click on graph for larger image.

This data shows the 7-day average of daily total traveler throughput from the TSA for 2019 (Light Blue), 2020 (Black), 2021 (Blue) and 2022 (Red).

The dashed line is the percent of 2019 for the seven-day average.

The 7-day average is down 4.9% from the same day in 2019 (90.9% of 2019).  (Dashed line) 

Air travel - as a percent of 2019 - has been moving sideways over the last several months, off about 10% from 2019 - with some ups and downs, usually related to the timing of holidays.

----- Movie Tickets: Box Office Mojo -----

Move Box OfficeThis data shows domestic box office for each week and the median for the years 2016 through 2019 (dashed light blue).  

Black is 2020, Blue is 2021 and Red is 2022.  

The data is from BoxOfficeMojo through August 25th.

Note that the data is usually noisy week-to-week and depends on when blockbusters are released.  

Movie ticket sales were at $109 million last week, down about 41% from the median for the week.

----- Hotel Occupancy: STR -----

Hotel Occupancy RateThis graph shows the seasonal pattern for the hotel occupancy rate using the four-week average.

The red line is for 2022, black is 2020, blue is the median, and dashed light blue is for 2021. Dashed purple is 2019 (STR is comparing to a strong year for hotels).

This data is through August 20th. The occupancy rate was down 2.8% compared to the same week in 2019.

The 4-week average of the occupancy rate is below the median rate for the previous 20 years (Blue).

Notes: Y-axis doesn't start at zero to better show the seasonal change.

----- Gasoline Supplied: Energy Information Administration -----

gasoline Consumption
This graph, based on weekly data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), shows gasoline supplied compared to the same week of 2019.

Blue is for 2020.  Purple is for 2021, and Red is for 2022.

As of August 19th, gasoline supplied was down 12.4% compared to the same week in 2019.

Recently gasoline supplied has been running somewhat below 2019 and 2021 levels - and sometimes below 2020.

Sunday, August 28, 2022

Sunday Night Futures

by Calculated Risk on 8/28/2022 08:03:00 PM

Weekend:
Schedule for Week of August 28, 2022

Monday:
• At 10:30 AM ET, Dallas Fed Survey of Manufacturing Activity for August. This is the last of the regional Fed manufacturing surveys for August.

From CNBC: Pre-Market Data and Bloomberg futures S&P 500 are down 48 and DOW futures are down 308 (fair value).

Oil prices were up over the last week with WTI futures at $93.06 per barrel and Brent at $100.99 per barrel. A year ago, WTI was at $69, and Brent was at $72 - so WTI oil prices are up 35% year-over-year.

Here is a graph from Gasbuddy.com for nationwide gasoline prices. Nationally prices are at $3.82 per gallon. A year ago, prices were at $3.12 per gallon, so gasoline prices are up $0.70 per gallon year-over-year.

Hotels: Occupancy Rate Down 2.8% Compared to Same Week in 2019

by Calculated Risk on 8/28/2022 08:31:00 AM

Occupancy for the week ending Aug. 20 was 67.3%, 1.2 percentage points lower than the previous week. Nominal average daily rate fell 1.1% week over week to $151, which is 17% higher than in 2019 and 10% greater than a year ago. Nominal revenue per available room contracted 2.8% week over week to $102, but remained ahead of 2019 by 12% and was up 17% from a year ago. Inflation-adjusted, or real, ADR was ahead of 2019 levels by 1%, whereas real RevPAR was below that benchmark by 3%.
...
While hotel demand — the number of room nights sold — has decreased week over week, it is only 1% lower than 2019 levels. Occupancy is 2.8 percentage points lower than in the comparable week of 2019 and 3.7 percentage points higher than a year ago. The difference between the demand and occupancy comparisons to 2019 is supply, which has increased by 2.6%. emphasis added
The following graph shows the seasonal pattern for the hotel occupancy rate using the four-week average.

Hotel Occupancy RateClick on graph for larger image.

The red line is for 2022, black is 2020, blue is the median, and dashed light blue is for 2021.  Dashed purple is 2019 (STR is comparing to a strong year for hotels).

The 4-week average of the occupancy rate is just below the median rate for the previous 20 years (Blue).

Note: Y-axis doesn't start at zero to better show the seasonal change.

The 4-week average of the occupancy rate has peaked seasonally and will now decline into the Fall.

Saturday, August 27, 2022

Real Estate Newsletter Articles this Week

by Calculated Risk on 8/27/2022 02:11:00 PM

At the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter this week:

New Home Sales Decrease Sharply, Record Months of Unsold Inventory Under Construction

The Sellers Strike and Housing Inventory

Update: Housing Completions will Increase Sharply in Late 2022 and Early 2023

Final Look at Local Housing Markets in July

Black Knight: Median House Prices Declined in July; First Decline in 32 Months


This is usually published 4 to 6 times a week and provides more in-depth analysis of the housing market.

You can subscribe at https://calculatedrisk.substack.com/

Most content is available for free (and no Ads), but please subscribe!

Schedule for Week of August 28, 2022

by Calculated Risk on 8/27/2022 08:11:00 AM

The key report this week is the August employment report on Friday.

Other key indicators include the August ISM manufacturing index, August auto sales, and Case-Shiller house prices for June.

----- Monday, Aug 29th -----

10:30 AM: Dallas Fed Survey of Manufacturing Activity for August. This is the last of the regional Fed manufacturing surveys for August.

----- Tuesday, Aug 30th -----

Case-Shiller House Prices Indices 9:00 AM: S&P/Case-Shiller House Price Index for June.

This graph shows the year-over-year change in the seasonally adjusted National Index, Composite 10 and Composite 20 indexes through the most recent report (the Composite 20 was started in January 2000).

The consensus is for a 20.6% year-over-year increase in the Comp 20 index for June.

9:00 AM: FHFA House Price Index for June. This was originally a GSE only repeat sales, however there is also an expanded index.

Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey10:00 AM ET: Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for July from the BLS.

This graph shows job openings (yellow line), hires (purple), Layoff, Discharges and other (red column), and Quits (light blue column) from the JOLTS.

Jobs openings decreased in June to 10.698 million from 11.303 million in May.

The number of job openings (black) were up 9% year-over-year and Quits were up 5% year-over-year.

----- Wednesday, Aug 31st -----

7:00 AM ET: The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the results for the mortgage purchase applications index.

8:15 AM: The ADP Employment Report for August. This report is for private payrolls only (no government). This is the first release of a new methodology.

9:45 AM: Chicago Purchasing Managers Index for August.

----- Thursday, Sept 1st -----

8:30 AM: The initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released.  The consensus is for an increase to 250 thousand from 243 thousand last week.

Vehicle SalesAll Day: Light vehicle sales for August. The consensus is for light vehicle sales to be 13.6 million SAAR in August, up from 13.34 million in July (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate).

This graph shows light vehicle sales since the BEA started keeping data in 1967. The dashed line is the current sales rate.

10:00 AM: ISM Manufacturing Index for August. The consensus is for the ISM to be at 52,1, down from 52.8 in July.

10:00 AM: Construction Spending for July. The consensus is for a 0.1% decrease in construction spending.

----- Friday, Sept 2nd -----

Employment Recessions, Scariest Job Chart8:30 AM: Employment Report for August.   The consensus is for 280,000 jobs added, and for the unemployment rate to be unchanged at 3.5%.

There were 528,000 jobs added in July, and the unemployment rate was at 3.5%.

This graph shows the job losses from the start of the employment recession, in percentage terms.

The current employment recession was by far the worst recession since WWII in percentage terms. However, 29 months after the onset of the current employment recession, all of the jobs have returned.

Friday, August 26, 2022

COVID August 26, 2022, Update on Cases, Hospitalizations and Deaths

by Calculated Risk on 8/26/2022 09:16:00 PM

On COVID (focus on hospitalizations and deaths):


COVID Metrics
 NowWeek
Ago
Goal
New Cases per Day288,59495,609≤5,0001
Hospitalized232,40335,061≤3,0001
Deaths per Day2392438≤501
1my goals to stop daily posts,
27-day average for Cases, Currently Hospitalized, and Deaths
🚩 Increasing 7-day average week-over-week for Cases, Hospitalized, and Deaths
✅ Goal met.

COVID-19 Deaths per DayClick on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the daily (columns) and 7-day average (line) of deaths reported.

Average daily deaths bottomed in July 2021 at 214 per day.

Black Knight: Median House Prices Declined in July; First Decline in 32 Months

by Calculated Risk on 8/26/2022 03:12:00 PM

Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: Black Knight: Median House Prices Declined in July; First Decline in 32 Months

A brief excerpt:

Important caveats: In normal times, median house prices flatten or decline seasonally in the 2nd half of the year. So, a decline in July isn’t unusual.

Also, the median price is distorted by the mix of homes sold. The repeat sales indexes - like Case-Shiller and FHFA - are better measures of house price movements, but median prices can be a leading indicator of price changes.

...
New ListingsFrom Andy Walden at Black Knight: Something Had to Give: Home Prices Down for First Time In 32 Months
Annual home price growth still clocked in at 14.3% – more than three times the long-run average – but most of that appreciation occurred in the last months of 2021 and earlier this year. Such strong annual growth rates can hide underlying weakness. Month-over-month data gives us a much clearer picture of just how much – and how quickly – the housing market has shifted.

The median home price fell by 0.77% in July, the largest single-month drop since January 2011. On a seasonally adjusted basis, July’s dip ranked among the 10 largest monthly declines on record, dating back more than 30 years.
There is much more in the article. You can subscribe at https://calculatedrisk.substack.com/

Q3 GDP Forecasts: Around 1%

by Calculated Risk on 8/26/2022 12:33:00 PM

From BofA:

[W]e continue to track 3Q GDP at 0.5% q/q saar [August 26 estimate]
emphasis added
From Goldman:
The personal consumption details were softer than our previous assumptions, and we lowered our Q3 GDP tracking estimate by 0.2pp to +1.0% (qoq ar). [August 26 estimate]
And from the Altanta Fed: GDPNow
The GDPNow model estimate for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the third quarter of 2022 is 1.6 percent on August 26, up from 1.4 percent on August 24. After this morning's releases from the US Census Bureau and the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, an increase in the nowcast of third-quarter real net exports was partially offset by a decrease in the nowcast of third-quarter real personal consumption expenditures and third-quarter real gross private domestic investment. [August 26 estimate]

Fed Chair Powell: "Higher interest rates ... will also bring some pain to households and businesses"

by Calculated Risk on 8/26/2022 10:06:00 AM

From Fed Chair Powell: Monetary Policy and Price Stability (watch on YouTube here)

Excerpt:

Restoring price stability will take some time and requires using our tools forcefully to bring demand and supply into better balance. Reducing inflation is likely to require a sustained period of below-trend growth. Moreover, there will very likely be some softening of labor market conditions. While higher interest rates, slower growth, and softer labor market conditions will bring down inflation, they will also bring some pain to households and businesses. These are the unfortunate costs of reducing inflation. But a failure to restore price stability would mean far greater pain.
...
July's increase in the target range was the second 75 basis point increase in as many meetings, and I said then that another unusually large increase could be appropriate at our next meeting. We are now about halfway through the intermeeting period. Our decision at the September meeting will depend on the totality of the incoming data and the evolving outlook. At some point, as the stance of monetary policy tightens further, it likely will become appropriate to slow the pace of increases.

Restoring price stability will likely require maintaining a restrictive policy stance for some time. The historical record cautions strongly against prematurely loosening policy.