Keep On Printing? Home Price Growth Linked To Fed Money Printing (Cleveland OH Is Fastest Growing City In Terms of Home Prices Tampa FL Fastest Declining)

Is This My Free One-Way Bus Ticket To Cleveland? Cleveland is leading the nation in home price growth at 4.7% YoY. Followed closely by Hartford CT, Louisville KY, Detroit MI and Buffalo NY.

Well, if The Fed would stop printing money (M2), home prices would decline. But The Fed will keep on printing!

Of course, the top 1% of net worth households are doing quite well thanks to The Fed’s eternal money printing.

On the commercial RE side, US office vacancy rates are approaching 20%.

Lastly, Tampa FL is the slowest growing area. Actually declining at a rate of -6.2% YoY.

Despite A Glut Of 1-Unit Homes For Sale (511k), 627k Units Built In June (Multifamily Starts Soar!)

Celebrate, dance to THEIR music. Housing construction is massively overregulated leading to a glut in unaffordable housing being built.

I mentioned the glut of new builds in my post yesterday. Construction remains over-regulated driving up the costs of new builds

As you can see, new single family homes for sale is 511,000. But single family homes under construction was 627,000 units in June.

Not surprisningly, housing completions were up in June, but generally down since late 2024.

Multifamily starts soared in June (red line).

Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow Q3 At 2.5%, Federal Government STILL Spending Like Crazy (Inflation Still Going On)

The Trump economy continues to boom. The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow forecast model shows real GDP growing at 2.5%.

The GDPNow model estimate for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the third quarter of 2025 is 2.5 percent on August 7, unchanged from August 5 after rounding. After this morning’s wholesale trade report from the US Census Bureau, the nowcast of the contribution of inventory investment to third-quarter real GDP growth increased from 0.76 percentage points to 0.82 percentage points.

Federal spending, elevated with the outbreak of Covid in 2020 remains higher than pre-Covid levels as does M2 Money printing.

And if you wonder why inflation is still going on, it is because the Federal government is still spending like crazy.

Another sign of economic health under Trump. The gap between 2-year and 30-year US yields has steepened to the widest in three years.

Good News! Purchase Mortgage Applications Rose 17 Percent Since Same Week Last Year (Mortgage Refis Surge 23 Percent From Previous Week)

The Fed didn’t try, but mortgage rates fell and mortgage applications rose 10.9% week-over-week.

Mortgage applications increased 10.9 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending August 8, 2025.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 10.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 10 percent compared with the previous week.  The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 1 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 1 percent compared with the previous week and was 17 percent higher than the same week one year ago.

The Refinance Index increased 23 percent from the previous week and was 8 percent higher than the same week one year ago.

The 30-year fixed mortgage rate declined to 6.67 percent last week, which spurred the strongest week for refinance activity since April. Borrowers responded favorably, as refinance applications increased 23 percent, driven mostly by conventional and VA applications. Refinances accounted for 46.5 percent of applications and as seen in other recent refinance bursts, the average loan size grew significantly to $366,400. Borrowers with larger loan sizes continue to be more sensitive to rate movements.

Good News! Business Applications Booming As Inflation Remains Calm (No Negative Impacts From Tariffs)

Let the good times roll! Booming business applications under Trump and calm inflation.

The latest inflation report continues to show no negative impact from tariffs. Core goods prices were up 0.2% in July. They are up just 1.1% over the past 12 months and are actually up a lesser 0.8% since President Trump began phasing in tariffs.

Business applications are booming under Trump’s economy.

While consumer prices are calm (2.7% YoY).

Shelter inflation is higher than the average price increase (3.7% YoY).

Mortgage Applications Increased 3 Percent From Previous Week (Purchase Apps Rose 1 Percent WoW)

They can’t accuse Fed Chair Jerome Powell of trying too hard to help Donald Trump. Mortgage rates moved lower last week, following declining Treasury yields as economic data releases signaled a weakening U.S. economy. As a result, the 30-year fixed rate decreased for the third straight week to 6.77 percent. As a result …

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 3.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 3 percent compared with the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 2 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 1 percent compared with the previous week and was 18 percent higher than the same week one year ago.

The Refinance Index increased 5 percent from the previous week and was 18 percent higher than the same week one year ago.

And the number of sellers in the housing market is greatly outweighing the number of buyers.

Mortgage and housing economists should breathe a sigh of relief that Bidenomics is over, but I doubt it they will.

Case-Shiller National Home Price Index Falls For 3rd Straight Month In May -0.3% MoM (Despite Fed Money Printing) 

US home prices fell for the 3rd straight month In May. The MoM decrease in the seasonally adjusted (SA) Case-Shiller National Index was at -0.29% (-3.5% annual rate).

Despite continued money printing by The Fed.

The Fed Lost Another $653 Million Last Week (Bring Total Realized Losses To More Than $236 Billion Since Sept ’22)

Nobody pisses away money like Washington DC.

The Fed lost another $653 million last week, bringing total realized losses to more than $236 billion since Sep ’22.

Nothing has been the same since the financial crisis and Bernanke’s overreaction.

California Governor “Greasy Gavin” Newsom wants to be President of the USA. He will fit right in with the other spendthrifts in Washington DC.

China, Fauci And Home Prices? Mortgage Demand Plummeted With Covid As Federal Spending Soared (New Home Sales Declined 6.6% YoY In June)

China unleashed the Wuhan virus on the globe, Anthony Fauci convinced Congress to binge spend like drunken sailors on Covid prevention and relief. Homes prices soared, mortgage demand sank and nothing has been the same.

Here is a chart of the Case-Shiller national home price index post Covid outbreak and the hysterical overreaction by Congress and the Administration (including Anthony Fauci).

Another example? New home sales are down 6.6% YoY.

Who do we blame? China? Yes. Anthony Fauci? Yes. Congress? Yes.