Confounded Interest – Anthony B. Sanders
Financial Markets And Real Estate
Inflation soared under Biden/Harris, primarily due to their outrageous wasteful government spending.
US government spening soared with Covid and politicians enjoyed the unbridled spending.
Let’s see if Trump and Republicans can do any better.
CMBS delinquencies are on the rise.
The delinquency rate for commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) tied to office properties reached 10.4 percent in November 2024, approaching the 10.7 percent peak reached during the 2008 financial crisis. The ascent is the fastest two-year increase on record, with rates climbing 8.8 percentage points since late 2022, significantly outrunning the 6.3-point rise seen during the financial crisis nearly 15 years ago.
The office real estate sector has been grappling with a severe downturn for several years now, but are accelerating recently as they are driven by persistently high vacancy rates and declining rents. Property values, particularly for older office buildings, have plummeted, with many losing 50 to 70 percent of their market value and in some cases becoming effectively worthless. Those conditions have left real estate portfolio managers and building owners unable to borrow, refinance or sell properties, contributing to rising delinquencies and foreclosures. (Mortgages become effectively delinquent when payments are missed beyond a standard 30-day grace period.)
On the CMBS front, there have been no upgrades in 2023 and 2024.
Efforts to convert office buildings into residential spaces are increasing but remain limited by structural and economic constraints. Many office towers are unsuitable for conversion due to their large floor plates or prohibitively high retrofitting costs which often exceed the cost of demolition and rebuilding. In 2024, 73 office-to-residential conversions were completed, with an additional 30 underway. Despite plans to increase the pace in 2025, the cumulative impact remains minimal, addressing just 7.9 percent of the 902 million square feet of vacant office space nationwide.
Milton Waddams personifies the disastrous progressive politics of Biden/Harris.
The last gasp of the Biden/Harris reign of (economic) error!
After existing home sales unexpectedly ticked up in October, analysts expected new home sales to slow after their recent resurgence (-1.8% MoM). They were right… BUT… the magnitude is mind-boggling!
New Home Sales collapsed 17.3% MoM in October. That is the largest MoM drop since July 2013.
That MoM plunge dragged sales down 9.4% YoY to 610k SAAR – the lowest since Nov 2022
Of course, all the revisions are lower…
Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which tore through parts of the Southeast, delayed sales in the nation’s biggest housing region and dragged down sales overall.
Sales in the South decreased 28% to 339,000, the slowest pace since April 2020. Sales also fell in the West, but rose in the Northeast and the Midwest.
Finally, we note that the median sale price of a new home increased to $437,300 in October, the highest in 14 months.
Does this mean November’s data will see a massive surge in new home sales? …even as rates have increased significantly?
Rolling into Cleveland to the lake.
NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 26, 2024: S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) today released the
September 2024 results for the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices. The leading measure of U.S.
home prices recorded a 3.9% annual gain in September 2024, a slight deceleration from the previous annual gains in 2024.
YEAR-OVER-YEAR
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, reported a 3.9% annual return for September, down from a 4.3% annual gain in the previous month. The 10-City Composite saw an annual increase of 5.2%, down from a 6.0% annual increase in the previous month. The 20-City Composite posted a year-over-year increase of 4.6%, dropping from a 5.2% increase in the previous month. New York again reported the highest annual gain among the 20 cities with a 7.5% increase in September, followed by Cleveland and Chicago with annual increases of 7.1% and 6.9%, respectively. Denver posted the smallest year-over-year growth with 0.2%.
Table 2 below summarizes the results for September 2024. Cleveland and New York top 7% YoY.
To quote Freddie King, the US is going down.
Longer-term inflation jumped to their highest since June 2008, according to the latest UMich Sentiment survey, while short-term inflation expectations dropped to four year lows…
Housing sentiment (buying conditions for housing) remains depressed under Biden/Harris
“Reign of (economic) error.”
Here is a picture depicting the assassination of the US housing market.
Its a slow down in the housing market.
Existing Home Sales were expected to rebound modestly in October (+2.9% MoM) after dropping for 6 of the last 7 months to the lowest levels since 2010, and they did. Sales rose 3.4% MoM (a beat) but thanks to a downward revision for September from -1.0% to -1.3% MoM. What is most shocking about the shift is that it pushed the YoY change for existing home sales positive (+2.9% YoY) for the first time since July 2021…
…but in context, that shift up to 3.96mm SAAR homes sold is nothing…
High borrowing costs have led to a shortage of previously owned homes on the market, discouraging many would-be home sellers from listing their properties for sale and having to part with their current low financing costs.
“Additional job gains and continued economic growth appear assured, resulting in growing housing demand,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a prepared statement.
“While mortgage rates remain elevated, they are expected to stabilize.”
Last month, the inventory of available homes edged up 0.7% to 1.37 million, continuing to trend higher although well below pre-pandemic levels.
Despite the weakness in sales, tight inventory is keeping prices elevated, yielding one of the least affordable housing markets on record. The median sale price last month increased 4% from a year earlier to $407,200, the highest ever for any October, the NAR figures show.
Contract signings rose in all four US regions, led by a 6.7% jump in the Midwest.
Sales of single-family homes increased 3.5% in October; purchases of condominiums and co-ops were up 2.7%
Finally, while that’s all very exciting – a scintilla of growth off almost record lows – the fecal matter is about to strike the rotating object as rising mortgage rates lagged impact threatens…
In October, 59% of homes sold were on the market for less than a month, compared with 57% in September, and 19% sold above the list price. Properties remained on the market for 29 days on average, compared with 28 days in the previous month. First-time buyers made up 27% of purchases, still historically low.
Fortunately, the Biden/Harris administration is winding down. On the mortgage side, the mortgage market is already gone under Biden/Harris where mortgage purchase applications are down a whopping 60%.
Mortgage applications increased 1.7 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending November 15, 2024.
The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 1.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 1 percent compared with the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 2 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 3 percent compared with the previous week and was 1 percent lower than the same week one year ago. And down -60% under Biden/Harris.
The Refinance Index increased 2 percent from the previous week and was 43 percent higher than the same week one year ago.
Slowing economy, rising rates, too expensive housing. Not a good sign for the mortgage market.
As Biden/Harris approve of Ukraine launching missiles against Russia risking nuclear war, we are witnessing a slow down in the US economy. This time, housing starts and permits.
US Housing Starts and Building Permits disappointed in October with the former dropping 3.1% MoM (-1.5% exp) and -0.6% MoM (+0.7% exp) respectively. This is the second straight month of declines for both measures of housing activity.
That pulled the SAAR totals down to four month lows – hovering just above COVID lockdown levels…
Under the hood, it was very mixed with Single-family permits rising and multifamily permits dropped. Single-family Starts plunged while multi-family Starts jumped…
As rate-cut expectations have fallen, so have homebuilders actions it seems…
But homebuilder ‘hope’ remains high…
With Trump back in charge, how much will Powell and his pals really want to cut rates now?
A recent paper by Michael Stegman, Ted Tozer and Richard Green reminds me of The Who’s song “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” Except that apparently Stegman, Tozer and Green did get fooled again.
I remember testifying in the House of Representatives in Washington DC on the financial crisis and housing markets. I pointed out that low down payment mortgages lending to households with low credit scores was very dangerous. I had the data and presented it to the House committee on financial services.
Fast forward to today. The Urban Institute, a far-left think tank just published a paper by Michael Stegman, Ted Tozer and Richard Green entitled “Zero–Down Payment FHA Mortgages Would Be a Cost-Effective Way to Expand First-Time Homeownership.”
The problem with Stegman et al’s paper is that it ignores The Federal Reserve and Federal spending. After the financial crisis of 2008 when housing prices declined (especially in bubble states like Arizona, Nevada and Florida), Berananke and Yellen adopted a zero interest rate policy that resulted in housing prices rising again. Then we have Powell’s lowering of rates to near-zero following the Covid outbreak and the insane level of Federal spending that ensued helping to drive housing prices to dangerous bubble levels. Making first time homeowner purchases almost impossible.
So, like the 2000s, the pursuit of homeownership will lead to insance policy proposals. If nothing else, the Stegman et al proposal will lead to MORE inflation in housing prices and set the stage for a housing bubble burst of epic proportions.
Apparently, Stegman et al DID get fooled again. Or they just don’t care.
There is one way out of the inflation trap. And it’s drill, baby, drill!
For the 53rd straight month, core consumer prices rose on a MoM basis in October with the YoY pace re-accelerating to +3.33%.
The shelter index increased 4.9 percent over the last year, accounting for over 65 percent of the total 12-month increase in the all items less food and energy index.
Thank goodness Harris can’t try to impliment her ridiculous plans to boost housing!
Glad to see Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk (the NEW Two Bobs from Office Space) cleaning up the mess in Washington DC.
Confounded Interest - Anthony B. Sanders 
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