US Existing Home Sales Collapse In January (Down 4.6% MoM In January, Largest Drop Since February 2022)

After managing a 1.4% YoY rise in 2025 (dramatically down from the 9.7% YoY rise in 2024, and 33% YoY collapse in 2023), US existing home sales were expected to drop 4.6% MoM in January (following December’s outsized 5.1% MoM surge), despite a tumble in mortgage rates.

The analysts were correct on the direction but wrong on the scale as existing home sales plunged 8.4% MoM in January from a downwardly revised +4.4% MoM in December. That is the biggest MoM drop since February 2022.

While some suggested this could be impacted by the Winter Storms, this is based on contracts signed in November/December… and the biggest decline was in The West (which had zero weather impact)

Nevertheless, realtors gonna realtor:

“The below-normal temperatures and above-normal precipitation this January make it harder than usual to assess the underlying driver of the decrease and determine if this month’s numbers are an aberration,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement.

That MoM plunge pulled the total SAAR down near 15 year lows…

Without an extended period of improved affordability, the recovery in the housing market is likely to be prolonged.

The NAR report showed the median selling price rose 0.9% from a year earlier to $396,800 last month.

First-time buyers represented 31% of buyers of existing homes in January, up slightly from 29% in the prior month and higher than a year ago.

The inventory of previously owned homes increased 3.4% in January from a year ago to 1.22 million.

A pickup in supply through 2025 has helped to tame price growth, though Yun said on a call with reporters that listings need to increase much more to help improve sales.

On the bright side, it appears mortgage applications are rebounding as the year started with lower rates…

Source: Bloomberg

Arguably, existing home sales have much further to go to the upside as the lagged mortgage rate has continued to decline… so what triggered this collapse?

Source: Bloomberg

Finally, circling back to where we started, NAR expects home sales to rise a stunning 14% this year, higher than most other forecasts but a figure that NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said he feels “confident” in. That assumes more inventory will come on the market, mortgage rates will hover around 6% and the Fed will cut interest rates another two times, compared to policymakers’ median projection for one.

Average Homeowner Tenure Rises To 8.6 Years (Americans Aren’t Moving Much)

Higher housing prices and higher than normal mortgages produces rising average homeowner tenure.

And Americans aren’t moving.

The ratio of home prices to median household income is the highest since “The Big Short” home price collapse.

Housing Bubble Part Deux! Home Price To Median Household Income Now Higher Than During Catestrophic Home Price Bubble Of 2005-2009 (Job Losses Primarily Women)

Yikes! The ratio of US Home Prices to US Median Household Income is now higher than the ratio during the catestrophic housing bubble during the latter half of the 2000s.

Here is a chart of home prices and median household incone,

The labor market is truly screwed-up. The December jobs report reveals that women account for nearly all labor force losses.

I Ain’t Drunk! Home Buyering Collapses As Home Prices 55% More Costly Than When Biden Became President (Mortgage Rates 64% More Expensive)

I ain’t drunk! But it would help in this housing market where housing prices and mortgage rates are much higher than when Joe Biden became President in January 2020. In fact, the Case-Shiller national home price index is 55% higher than when Sleepy Joe took the reins of Presidency and the 30-year mortgage rate is 64% higher.

Because of higher housing prices and mortgage rates,

The Case-Shiller national home price index is 55% higher than when Sleepy Joe took the reins of Presidency and the 30-year mortgage rate is 64% higher.

As a result of higher housing prices and mortgage rate (and Gavin Newsom’s ludicrous policies), it will take over 30 years to accumulate enough savings to buy a home in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Jose and San Francisco.

I ain’t drunk, but first-time homebuyers will need to be drunk in this housing market.

The Fed trying to help the economy.

Fear! Extreme Fear In Markets At -13 (Greed Is 50 And Above)

Collapsing crypto and metal prices coupled with a tanking stock market is pointing to EXTREME FEAR.

The BofA bull and bear indicator says the same thing.

The realization that government is just a money laundering operation for politicians and that The Fed is just a friend of the big banks says it all.

Pending Home Sales Fall To Lowest Since 2020 (Covid) As People Flee New York And California

According to Redfin, US pending home sales fell to the lowest since the Covid epidemic of 2020.

With the population change from state to state, like New York, California and Illinous to South Carolina and Idaho (home of Napolean Dynamite), it is no wonder that the housing market is in a state of turmoil.

Why leave New York? A scene from Mandami’s NYC.

State Of The Housing Market! Lowest Turnover In Decades, New Construction Premium Vanishes, Median Age Of First-Time Homebuyers Is 40

Home prices exploded under Biden and Covid Federal spending. Making housing unaffordable for millions. Now the turnover rates for homes is at its lowesst rate in decades.

Existing homes are now more expensive than new homes.

Florida housing is getting gut-punched from Naples to Punta Gorda.

Yikes! Median age of first time homebuyers is 40.

Fortunately, Joe Biden is out of office. But Chuck Schumer may make a comeback and restart the insane Covid-era spending. Schumer, the penultimate knucklehead in Congress, approved Ketanji Brown Jackson to sit on the Supreme Court of the USA.

Bitcoin Is Crashing! Breaks 80K Support Level

Bitcoin is crashing!

Of course it is! I bought the dip after the intiail crash two days ago,

Keep On Printing? National House Price Index Up 1.4% year-over-year in November As M2 Money Growth Slows

Keep on printing money. It seems that home price growth requires The Fed to keep printing money.

S&P/Case-Shiller released the monthly Home Price Indices for November (“November” is a 3-month average of September, October and November closing prices). September closing prices include some contracts signed in July, so there is a significant lag to this data. Here is a graph of the month-over-month (MoM) change in the Case-Shiller National Index Seasonally Adjusted (SA).

From S&P S&P Cotality Case-Shiller Index Reports Annual Gain In November 2025

The S&P Cotality Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index posted a 1.4% annual gain for November, in line with the previous month.

Real home values declined as consumer inflation (2.7%) outpaced the National Index gain (1.4%) by 1.3 percentage points.

Regional divergence persisted: Midwestern and Northeastern markets led by Chicago (+5.7%) and New York (+5.0%) posted gains, while Sun Belt cities including Tampa (–3.9%), Phoenix (–1.4%), Dallas (–1.4%), and Miami (–1.0%) saw declines.
…
“Regional patterns continue to illustrate a stark divergence. Chicago leads all cities for a second consecutive month with a 5.7% year-over-year price increase, followed by New York at 5.0% and Cleveland at 3.4%. These historically steady Midwestern and Northeastern markets have maintained respectable gains even as overall conditions cool. By contrast, Tampa home prices are 3.9% lower than a year ago – the steepest decline among the 20 cities, extending that market’s 13-month streak of annual drops. Other Sun Belt boomtowns remain under pressure as well: Phoenix (-1.4%), Dallas (-1.4%), and Miami (-1.0%) each continue to see year-over-year declines, a dramatic turnaround from their pandemic-era strength.

“Monthly price changes were mixed but leaned negative in November, underscoring persistent softness. On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, 15 of the 20 major metro areas saw prices decline from October (versus 16 declines in the previous month). Only a handful of markets – including Los Angeles, San Diego, Miami, New York, and Phoenix – eked out slight gains before seasonal adjustment. After accounting for typical seasonal slowing, the National Index inched up just 0.4% for the month, indicating that price momentum remains muted.
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The S&P Cotality Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, reported a 1.4% annual gain for November. The 10-City Composite showed an annual increase of 2.0%, up from a 1.9% increase in the previous month. The 20-City Composite posted a year-over-year increase of 1.4%, up from a 1.3% increase in the previous month.
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The pre-seasonally adjusted U.S. National Index saw a drop of 0.1% and the 20-City Composite Index fell 0.03%, while the 10-City Composite Index increased 0.1%.

After seasonal adjustment, the U.S. National Index reported a monthly increase of 0.4%, and both the 10-City Composite and 20-City Composite Indices posted month-over-month gains of 0.5%.

Mortgage Market After Covid! Soaring Home Prices And Mortgage Rates Led To Collapse Of Mortgage Originations

Like The Talking Heads song “Life During Wartime,” we are dealing with the mortgage market affer Covid. What happened? Mortgage originations plunged after mortgage rates (red line) soared.