Escape From LA II? Corelogic Home Price Index UP 18% YoY, But Forecast To Slow To 1.9% YoY In 2022

Yes, home prices are still growing at a super-hot pace of 18%, according to Corelogic.

But the forecast for home price growth is for 1.9% YoY in 2022.

As home price growth crashes back to earth as wages don’t keep pace with home prices.

Home prices have been growing in most states out west where The Fed’s money pump has resulted in a boom in second homes and people escaping high tax California and Oregon for Nevada, Idaho, Arizona (again), Utah and Montana. The east coast is seeing the Carolinas booming along with Florida and Indiana. Escape from New York?

Escape from LA … to Arizona, Nevada, Idaho and Utah?

Agita! Treasury Secretary Yellen Expresses Openness to Defusing Debt Ceiling Without GOP Votes (CDS At $15.97, So No One Is Really Worried, Janet!)

Somewhere over the Alps, T-Sec Janet Yellen is fearmongering over a possible US debt default if Republicans don’t kowtow to Democrat’s desires to raise the debt ceiling.

(Washington ComPost) — SOMEWHERE OVER THE ALPS — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Sunday said Democrats should be willing to approve a fix to the nation’s debt ceiling without GOP support if necessary, an approach senior Democrats ruled out during a recent standoff over the issue.

In an interview aboard a government airplane between Rome and Dublin, Yellen castigated Republicans for refusing to help raise the debt limit but acknowledged Democrats may be able to address the issue without GOP support through the Senate budget procedure known as reconciliation.

Senior Democratic leaders were adamant that the debt ceiling be resolved on a bipartisan basis last month. Senate Republicans have uniformly insisted that Democrats should alone be responsible for raising the nation’s debt limit. Congress probably will face a deadline of Dec. 3 to act, though the exact date is uncertain.

Well, Janet, the market (Credit Default Swaps for US) doesn’t seem to be worried about raising the debt ceiling.

Likewise, the CDX 5Y IG for the US investment grade corporate bonds is near historic lows. Even Yellen can’t make that rise.

The yield curve is flattening as The Fed gets ready to taper.

Only a career academic and politico Bambina like Janet Yellen would try to drum up agita about a US debt default when Democrats can cram down most anything through “budget reconciliation.”

Just relax Janet, put on some headphones, and listen to Redd Volkaert instead of your habit of fearmongering.

ECB’s Lagarde Sees Higher Inflation; Pushes Back On Rate-hike Bets (ECB Keeps Foot On Monetary Gas Pedal Despite Inflation)

Its the same all over the world … insane central bank policies and resulting inflation.

I have discussed the US Federal Reserve in depth, but its time to focus on Europe’s European Central Bank (ECB) and their President Christine Lagarde.

FRANKFURT, Oct 28 (Reuters) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde acknowledged on Thursday that inflation will be high for even longer but pushed back against market bets that price pressures would trigger an interest rate hike as soon as next year.

With central banks around the world signalling tighter policy amid rising prices, Lagarde said the ECB had done much “soul-searching” over its stance but concluded that inflation was still temporary, so a policy response would be premature.

Soul-searching? The ECB is just doing what Powell and the Fed (aka, Jerome Jett and the Blackhearts) are doing. Keeping the foot on the monetary gas pedal in the face of inflation.

Let’s start Eurozone inflation. It is now sitting a 4.10% YoY. And core inflation is sitting at 2.10% YoY. Inflation is now the highest since 2009 while core inflation is at the highest since 2001.

Like the Federal Reserve, the ECB still has its foot on the monetary accelerator pedal despite booming inflation.

So, Christine, 19 nations in “Europe” having negative 2-year sovereign yields isn’t low enough for you?

The ECB’s platform in Frankfurt reminds me of a bad TV quiz show where participants try to guess prices next year. Call it “The Price Is Wrong.”

Unless, of course, the ECB sees a massive depression ahead.

US Mortgage Purchase Applications UP 3.24% From Previous Week As Mortgage Rates Rose To 3.30% (But Purchase Applications Down 9.3% From Same Week Last Year)

Mortgage purchase applications rose 3.24% from the previous week, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association. However, purchase applications are down 9.3% from

Mortgage refinancing applications declined -1.57% from the previous week as mortgage rates rose from 3.23% to 3.30%.

US Home Prices Still Soaring! Case-Shiller National HPI UP 19.84% YoY In August As Fed Stimulus Remains (Phoenix AZ UP 33.31%)

Between The Federal Reserve’s unorthodox monetary policy and insane spending from Congress and Biden Administration, we are seeing a near 20% rise in home prices for August.

Please note that pre-COVID the Case-Shiller home price index (national) was growing at 4%. Thanks to Fed Stimulypto, home prices are roaring at near 20% YoY.

Phoenix AZ home prices are growing at a 33.31% pace. The slowest growing? The US “shoot ’em up” capital, Chicago, is growing at 12.72% and is the slowest growing Case-Shiller 20 city.

I feel like I am living in the movie “Cloverfield” with The Federal Reserve as the uncontrollable monster.

UPDATE: Columbus Ohio as of Q2 2021 is growing at a 13% YoY pace.

Powell Flags Rising Inflation Risk While Playing Down Rate Hikes (US Dollar, 10Y Treasury Yield, Gold Fall With Powell’s Comments)

Like the old EF Hutton ads, “When Powell speaks, people listen.”

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell sounded a note of heightened concern over persistently high inflation as he made clear that the central bank will begin tapering its bond purchases shortly but remain patient on raising interest rates. 

“The risks are clearly now to longer and more persistent bottlenecks, and thus to higher inflation,” Powell said Friday during a virtual panel discussion hosted by the South African Reserve Bank and moderated by Bloomberg’s Francine Lacqua. 

“I would say our policy is well-positioned to manage a range of plausible outcomes,” he said. “I do think it’s time to taper and I don’t think it’s time to raise rates.”


Good luck with that, Jay! You are going to raise the short-end of the yield that will lead to a flattening of the Treasury yield curve. But you are going to continue to buy Treasuries and Agency MBS in order to monetize the rampant spending by Congress and the Biden Administration? C’mon man!

You can see where Powell spoke today. It is when gold tanked along with the 10-year Treasury yield. Both rebounded a bit, but the 10-year Treasury yield continue its fall to 1.6324%.

The US dollar (green) fell when Powell opened his pie-hole. But Bitcoin (blue) fell in advance as if they knew what Powell was going to say.

Goin’ Down! US GDP Nosedives To 0.5% On Bubbles And Bottlenecks

Goin’ down! GDP, that is.

The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow model estimate for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the third quarter of 2021 is 0.5 percent on October 19, down from 1.2 percent on October 15. After recent releases from the US Census Bureau and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, the nowcasts of third-quarter real personal consumption expenditures growth and third-quarter real gross private domestic investment growth decreased from 0.9 percent and 10.6 percent, respectively, to 0.4 percent and 8.4 percent, respectively.

US real GDP nosedived to 0.5% according to the Atlanta Fed GDPNow real-time tracker.

Again, The Fed and Federal government pumped trillions of stimulus into an unprepared economy resulting in massive bottlenecks. So, we are getting declining GDP and rising inflation.

Yesterday’s industrial production dove leading to the 0.5% GDP figure. Today’s housing starts didn’t impact GDP in a meaningful way.

And she was.

US Housing Starts Drop 1.58% In September (Permits Drop 7.67%) As Interest Rate Increases And Inflation Loom

US housing starts slowed in September to at a -1.58% MoM rate. Permits dropped 7.67% MoM.

Now that interest rates are expected to rise … in late 2022, we may be a slowing in the housing market.

Here are the numbers.

The US Treasury 10Y-3M slope is rising as inflation rises (that inflation curve looks like the ARCTAN function from prepayment modeling!)

Has The Fed Lost Control With Its Abnormal Policies? $2.7 Trillion in Crisis Savings Stay Hoarded by Wary Consumers

Has The Federal Reserve lost control of the economy? And inflation? The answer is likely yes. Why?

The Covid crisis has been played by the Federal government as an excuse for insane levels for spending coupled with massive monetary stimulus from The Federal Reserve.

As an example of The Fed losing control is US savings. The Fed’s model is to drive savers into consumption, therefore raising production and increasing GDP growth. But alas, The Fed can’t overcome the fear faced by consumers with Covid, Covid shutdowns, and rapidly rising prices.

(Bloomberg) — Consumers in Europe and the U.S. aren’t rushing to spend more than $2.7 trillion in savings socked away during the pandemic, dashing hopes for a consumption-fueled boost to economic growth on both sides of the Atlantic.

In the wake of lockdown easing during the northern hemisphere’s summer holiday season, excess savings in euro-area bank balances declined only marginally in August, and Italy still recorded an increase, according to calculations by Bloomberg Economics. In the U.S. there has also been no drawdown, the figures show. 

The absence of a consumption surge that had been anticipated by some economists may speak against the prospect of a lasting inflation shock feared by central banks. While higher balances could help households cope with skyrocketing heating bills, tepid demand might temper businesses’ ability to push through permanent price increases.  

In the USA, we see accumulated savings despite near-zero deposit rates at banks.

To be sure, The Fed reacted (or overreacted) to the Covid outbreak by increasing the money supply and their purchase of Treasuries and Agency MBS as the Federal government went on a wild spending spree.

But with trillions in Stimulypto Federal spending and Fed money printing, the bottlenecks in the economy (which apparently weren’t known before … ) have contributed to massive price increases that aren’t going away any time soon.

Notice how Fed monetary policies changed after the housing bubble burst and ensuring financial crisis/Great Recession. Before 2008, The Fed periodically whipsawed their Fed Funds target rate. But since late 2008, we have seen hardly any move from The Fed (except for 2017-2020 while Trump was President). For Obama,

Here is a look at The Fed’s record under Obama, Trump and Biden. The Fed raised their target rate only once under Obama until Trump was elected. Then The Fed raised rates 8 times. Then began lowering them again (5 times) leading to a big drop when Covid stuck. So for Trump, The Fed changed their target rate 13 times compared to 1 rate change under Obama and none under Biden.

And the above chart is only The Fed’s target rate. My point is that Yellen failing to raise rates under Obama has resulted in this over DC-Stimulypto we are seeing today.

Note the difference in Fed policies BEFORE the financial crisis. We need to return to a normal Fed policy rather than the hyper-inflationary zero-rate, QE policies since 2008.

M2 Money velocity (GDP/M2 Money) remains near an all-time low.

But given DC’s spending spree and all-time lows for M2 Money Velocity, The Fed is going to need to keep purchasing trillions in debt at low interest rates. The abnormal Obama years (Bernanke/Yellen) are the NEW abnormal. Or should I say abby normal policies?

Dr. Frederick Frankenstein : Now that brain that you gave me. Was it Hans Delbruck’s?

Igor :No.

Dr. Frederick Frankenstein : Ah! Very good. Would you mind telling me whose brain I DID put in?

Igor : Then you won’t be angry?

Dr. Frederick Frankenstein : I will NOT be angry.

Igor : Abby someone.

Dr. Frederick Frankenstein : Abby someone. Abby who?

Igor : Abby… Normal.

Dr. Frederick Frankenstein Abby Normal?

Igor : I’m almost sure that was the name.

Dr. Frederick Frankenstein Are you saying that I put an abnormal brain into a seven and a half foot long, fifty-four inch wide GORILLA?

So, yes, Bernanke and Yellen put into place abnormal policies that Powell is following into the world’s largest economy (or gorilla).

Only Igor and The Federal Reserve would pick such abnormal policies that ultimately lead to massive misallocations and inflation.

On a side note, do Biden and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg really believe that they can fix the backed-up ports that are flooded with cargo thanks to Stimulypto? By Christmas??

Not with natural gas prices up 90% since January 4th!

Here is a video of where The Fed comes up with their abby normal monetary policies.

Time To Buy? Real 30Y Mortgage Rate At -2.21% As Real Home Price Growth At 14.34% YoY (UMich Home Buying Sentiment Improves To 75)

Wake up. Time to buy?

This is a time even unlike the disastrous housing bubble of the 2000s that led to the financial crisis and Great Recession. Even during the housing bubble years, we still had positive REAL mortgage rates: Bankrate 30Y Fixed rate – CPI YoY. But today we have even FASTER REAL home price growth and NEGATIVE mortgage rates!

And yes, REAL home price growth is 14.34% YoY while REAL hourly earnings growth is -0.79%.

The University of Michigan consumer survey came out today and buying conditions for housing improved to 75. Which means that more people were negative than positive due to skyrocketing home prices.

With negative 30Y mortgage rates and rising apartment rents, is it time to buy? Just remember what happened to Leon in Blade Runner.