by Calculated Risk on 12/29/2020 11:13:00 AM
Tuesday, December 29, 2020
Question #8 for 2021: What will happen with house prices in 2021?
Earlier I posted some questions for next year: Ten Economic Questions for 2021. I'm adding some thoughts, and maybe some predictions for each question.
8) House Prices: It appears house prices - as measured by the national repeat sales index (Case-Shiller, CoreLogic) - will be up around 8% to 9% in 2020. What will happen with house prices in 2021?
The following graph shows the year-over-year change through October 2020, in the seasonally adjusted Case-Shiller Composite 10, Composite 20 and National indices (the Composite 20 was started in January 2000).
Click on graph for larger image.
The Composite 10 SA is up 7.5% compared to October 2019. The Composite 20 SA is up 7.9% year-over-year.
The National index SA is up 8.4% year-over-year. Other house price indexes have indicated similar gains (see table below).
The YoY price increases in 2020 were the strongest since 2013.
Although I mostly use Case-Shiller, I also follow several other price indexes. The following table shows the year-over-year change for several house prices indexes.
| Year-over-year Change for Various House Price Indexes | ||
|---|---|---|
| Index | Through | Increase |
| Case-Shiller Comp 20 | October | 7.9% |
| Case-Shiller National | October | 8.4% |
| CoreLogic | October | 7.3% |
| FHFA House Price Index | October | 10.2% |
There are a wide range of price forecasts for 2021, from around 2% YoY growth to as much as 10%.
Here was Zillow's comment today on Case-Shiller:
"Record low mortgage rates, a wave of households aging into homeownership and a limited number of homes for sale all combined to stoke competition for houses and placed consistent upward pressure on prices for the better part of the last calendar year. These factors appear likely to remain in place in the near term, and an incrementally improving economy should encourage more buyers to enter the market. Taken together, this torrid pace of home price appreciation appears primed to continue well into 2021."Inventories will probably increase, especially in the 2nd half of 2021, but will most likely still be somewhat low historically. Also, prices tend to have momentum, so unless mortgage rates increase sharply (unlikely) or inventories rise quicker than expected, we should expect further price increases in 2021. Watching inventory will be important to adjust this forecast!
Here are the Ten Economic Questions for 2021 and a few predictions:
• Question #1 for 2021: How much will the economy grow in 2021?
• Question #2 for 2021: Will all the jobs lost in 2020 return in 2021, or will job growth be sluggish?
• Question #3 for 2021: What will the unemployment rate be in December 2021?
• Question #4 for 2021: Will the overall participation rate increase to pre-pandemic levels (63.4% in February 2020) , or will it will only partially recover in 2021?
• Question #5 for 2021: Will the core inflation rate increase in 2021? Will too much inflation be a concern in 2021?
• Question #6 for 2021: Will the Fed raise rates in 2021? What about the asset purchase program?
• Question #7 for 2021: How much will RI increase in 2021? How about housing starts and new home sales in 2021?
• Question #8 for 2021: What will happen with house prices in 2021?
• Question #9 for 2021: Will inventory increase as the pandemic subsides, or will inventory decrease further in 2021?
• Question #10 for 2021: How much damage did the pandemic do to certain sectors?
Case-Shiller: National House Price Index increased 8.4% year-over-year in October
by Calculated Risk on 12/29/2020 09:12:00 AM
S&P/Case-Shiller released the monthly Home Price Indices for October ("October" is a 3 month average of August, September and October 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 Shows Annual Home Price Gains Soared to 7% in September
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine U.S. census divisions, reported an 8.4% annual gain in October, up from 7.0% in the previous month. The 10-City Composite annual increase came in at 7.5%, up from 6.2% in the previous month. The 20-City Composite posted a 7.9% year-over-year gain, up from 6.6% in the previous month.
Phoenix, Seattle and San Diego continued to report the highest year-over-year gains among the 19 cities (excluding Detroit) in October. Phoenix led the way with a 12.7% year-over-year price increase, followed by Seattle with an 11.7% increase and San Diego with an 11.6% increase. All 19 cities reported higher price increases in the year ending October 2020 versus the year ending September 2020.
...
The National Index posted a 1.4% month-over-month increase, while the 10-City and 20-City Composites both posted increases of 1.4% and 1.3% respectively, before seasonal adjustment in October. After seasonal adjustment, the National Index posted a month-over-month increase of 1.7%, while the 10-City and 20-City Composites both posted increases of 1.6%. In October, all 19 cities (excluding Detroit) reported increases before and after seasonal adjustment.
“The surprising strength we noted in last month’s report continued into October’s home price data,” says Craig J. Lazzara, Managing Director and Global Head of Index Investment Strategy at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “The National Composite Index gained 8.4% relative to its level a year ago, accelerating from September’s 7.0% increase. The 10- and 20-City Composites (up 7.5% and 7.9%, respectively) also rose more rapidly in October than they had done in September. The housing market’s strength was once again broadly-based: all 19 cities for which we have October data rose, and all 19 gained more in the 12 months ended in October than they had gained in the 12 months ended in September.
“We’ve noted before that a trend of accelerating increases in the National Composite Index began in August 2019 but was interrupted in May and June, as COVID-related restrictions produced modestlydecelerating price gains. Since June, our monthly readings have shown accelerating growth in home prices, and October’s results emphatically emphasize that trend. The last time that the National Composite matched this month’s 8.4% growth rate was more than six and a half years ago, in March 2014. Although the full history of the pandemic’s impact on housing prices is yet to be written, the data from the last several months are consistent with the view that COVID has encouraged potential buyers to move from urban apartments to suburban homes. We’ll continue to monitor what the data can tell us about this question
emphasis added
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 1.6% in October (SA) from September.
The Composite 20 index is up 1.6% (SA) in October.
The National index is 24.3% above the bubble peak (SA), and up 1.7% (SA) in October. The National index is up 68% from the post-bubble low set in December 2011 (SA).
The Composite 10 SA is up 7.5% compared to October 2019. The Composite 20 SA is up 7.9% year-over-year.
The National index SA is up 8.4% year-over-year.
Note: According to the data, prices increased in 19 cities month-over-month seasonally adjusted.
Price increases were above expectations. I'll have more later.
Monday, December 28, 2020
Tuesday: Case-Shiller House Prices
by Calculated Risk on 12/28/2020 09:11:00 PM
From Matthew Graham at Mortgage News Daily: MBS RECAP: Uneventful Day Despite Covid Relief Bill
The big news at the end of last week was Trump's decision to veto the covid relief/spending bill. After he signed it last night, overnight markets began pointing toward higher rates. 10yr yields were roughly 3bps higher to start the day, but it was all downhill from there (in a good way). MBS led the charge early. Treasuries ultimately broke even ... [30 Year Mortgage Rate for Top Tier Scenarios: 2.79%].Tuesday:
emphasis added
• At 9:00 AM ET, S&P/Case-Shiller House Price Index for October. The consensus is for a 7.2% year-over-year increase in the National index for October. Note that Zillow is forecasting Case-Shiller will report a 7.7% YoY increase in the National index.
December 28 COVID-19 Test Results; Record Hospitalizations
by Calculated Risk on 12/28/2020 07:02:00 PM
The US is now averaging close to 2 million tests per day. Based on the experience of other countries, for adequate test-and-trace (and isolation) to reduce infections, the percent positive needs to be under 5% (probably close to 1%), so the US has far too many daily cases - and percent positive - to do effective test-and-trace.
There were 1,540,320 test results reported over the last 24 hours.
There were 162,190 positive tests.
Almost 67,000 US deaths have been reported so far in December, surpassing April as the deadliest month. See the graph on US Daily Deaths here.
This data is from the COVID Tracking Project.
The percent positive over the last 24 hours was 10.5% (red line is 7 day average). The percent positive is calculated by dividing positive results by total tests (including pending).
And check out COVID Act Now to see how each state is doing. (updated link to new site)
• Record Hospitalizations
Question #9 for 2021: Will inventory increase as the pandemic subsides, or will inventory decrease further in 2021?
by Calculated Risk on 12/28/2020 02:14:00 PM
Earlier I posted some questions for next year: Ten Economic Questions for 2021. I'm adding some thoughts, and maybe some predictions for each question.
9) Housing Inventory: Housing inventory decreased sharply in 2020 to record lows. Will inventory increase as the pandemic subsides, or will inventory decrease further in 2021?
Tracking housing inventory is very helpful in understanding the housing market. The plunge in inventory in 2011 (blue arrow on first graph below) helped me call the bottom for house prices in early 2012 (The Housing Bottom is Here). And the increase in inventory in late 2005 (see red arrow) helped me call the top for house prices in 2006.
Back in 2019, when several commentators were bearish on housing, I pointed out there was no sharp increase in housing inventory (like in 2005), and that was one of the reasons I remained optimistic on housing and the economy (correctly!).
This graph shows nationwide inventory for existing homes through November 2020.
According to the NAR, inventory decreased to 1.28 million in November from 1.42 million in October. And inventory in November was down from 1.64 million in November 2019.
Note that inventory was already pretty low in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Prior to 2020, two of the key reasons inventory was low:
1) A large number of single family home and condos were converted to rental units. In 2015, housing economist Tom Lawler estimated there were 17.5 million renter occupied single family homes in the U.S., up from 10.7 million in 2000. Many of these houses were purchased by investors. Most of these rental conversions were at the lower end, and that limited the supply for first time buyers.
2) Baby boomers are aging in place (people tend to downsize when they are 75 or 80). The leading edge of the boomers are now turning 76 or so, and the boomers selling will probably gradually increase over the next 10 years.
Inventory is not seasonally adjusted, and usually inventory decreases from the seasonal high in mid-summer to the seasonal lows in December and January as sellers take their homes off the market for the holidays.
Inventory was down 22% year-over-year in November compared to November 2019. Months of supply decreased to 2.3 months in November (an all time low).
In 2020, inventory really declined due to a combination of potential sellers keeping their properties off the market during a pandemic, and a pickup in buying due to record low mortgage rates, a move away from multi-family rentals and strong second home buying (to escape the high-density cities).
And at the same time, demographics are now favorable for home buying (a large cohort has moved into the peak home buying years).
First, making the assumption that the pandemic will be mostly over by mid-2021, we can make a few general predictions:
1. Potential sellers will be more willing to list their homes in the Summer and the second half of 2021 (and allow strangers into their homes).
2. The move away from dense cities will slow and maybe end. What makes cities attractive (jobs, cultural events and other entertainment), hasn't been available during the pandemic. That will change when the pandemic ends, and cities will be attractive again. Of course, the trends toward remote working, online shopping and home entertainment will likely continue, and this will allow some people to live anywhere.
Here are the Ten Economic Questions for 2021 and a few predictions:
• Question #1 for 2021: How much will the economy grow in 2021?
• Question #2 for 2021: Will all the jobs lost in 2020 return in 2021, or will job growth be sluggish?
• Question #3 for 2021: What will the unemployment rate be in December 2021?
• Question #4 for 2021: Will the overall participation rate increase to pre-pandemic levels (63.4% in February 2020) , or will it will only partially recover in 2021?
• Question #5 for 2021: Will the core inflation rate increase in 2021? Will too much inflation be a concern in 2021?
• Question #6 for 2021: Will the Fed raise rates in 2021? What about the asset purchase program?
• Question #7 for 2021: How much will RI increase in 2021? How about housing starts and new home sales in 2021?
• Question #8 for 2021: What will happen with house prices in 2021?
• Question #9 for 2021: Will inventory increase as the pandemic subsides, or will inventory decrease further in 2021?
• Question #10 for 2021: How much damage did the pandemic do to certain sectors?
Dallas Fed: "Texas Manufacturing Activity Expands at a Faster Pace" in December
by Calculated Risk on 12/28/2020 10:39:00 AM
From the Dallas Fed: Texas Manufacturing Activity Expands at a Faster Pace
Expansion in Texas factory activity picked up in December, according to business executives responding to the Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey. The production index, a key measure of state manufacturing conditions, rebounded from 7.2 to 25.5, indicating an acceleration in output growth.This was the last of the regional Fed surveys for December.
Other measures of manufacturing activity also point to stronger growth this month. The new orders index pushed up 11 points to 17.8, and the growth rate of orders index rose from 9.7 to 16.5. The capacity utilization index moved up 11 points to 17.7, and the shipments index advanced from 13.7 to 21.9.
Perceptions of broader business conditions continued to improve in December. The general business activity index remained positive but edged down from 12.0 to 9.7. Meanwhile, the company outlook index pushed further into positive territory, rising from 11.0 to 16.8. Uncertainty regarding companies’ outlooks continued to rise; the index increased six points to 13.4.
Labor market measures indicated an increase in employment and work hours. The employment index increased from 11.7 to 19.6, suggesting a pickup in hiring.
emphasis added
Here is a graph comparing the regional Fed surveys and the ISM manufacturing index:
The New York and Philly Fed surveys are averaged together (yellow, through December), and five Fed surveys are averaged (blue, through December) including New York, Philly, Richmond, Dallas and Kansas City. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) PMI (red) is through November (right axis).
The ISM manufacturing index for December will be released on Monday, January 4th. Based on these regional surveys, the ISM manufacturing index will likely decrease slightly in December from the November level.
Note that these are diffusion indexes, so readings above 0 (or 50 for the ISM) means activity is increasing (it does not mean that activity is back to pre-crisis levels).
Seven High Frequency Indicators for the Economy
by Calculated Risk on 12/28/2020 08:17:00 AM
These indicators are mostly for travel and entertainment. It will interesting to watch these sectors recover as the vaccine is distributed.
The TSA is providing daily travel numbers.
This data shows the seven day average of daily total traveler throughput from the TSA for 2019 (Blue) and 2020 (Red).
The dashed line is the percent of last year for the seven day average.
This data is as of December 27th.
The seven day average is down 57.7% from last year (42.3% of last year). (Dashed line)
There has been a slow increase from the bottom, with ups and downs due to the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
The second graph shows the 7 day average of the year-over-year change in diners as tabulated by OpenTable for the US and several selected cities.
This data is updated through December 26, 2020.
This data is "a sample of restaurants on the OpenTable network across all channels: online reservations, phone reservations, and walk-ins. For year-over-year comparisons by day, we compare to the same day of the week from the same week in the previous year."
Note that this data is for "only the restaurants that have chosen to reopen in a given market". Since some restaurants have not reopened, the actual year-over-year decline is worse than shown.
Note that dining is generally lower in the northern states - Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New York. Note that California dining is off sharply with the orders to close.
Note that the data is usually noisy week-to-week and depends on when blockbusters are released.
Movie ticket sales have picked up slightly over the last couple of months, but were at $10 million (compared to usually around $400 million per week at this time of year).
Some movie theaters have reopened (probably with limited seating).
The red line is for 2020, dash light blue is 2019, blue is the median, and black is for 2009 (the worst year since the Great Depression for hotels - prior to 2020).
This data is through December 19th. Hotel occupancy is currently down 26.4% year-over-year.
Notes: Y-axis doesn't start at zero to better show the seasonal change.
Since there is a seasonal pattern to the occupancy rate, we can track the year-over-year change in occupancy to look for any improvement. This table shows the year-over-year change since the week ending Sept 19, 2020:
| Week Ending | YoY Change, Occupancy Rate |
|---|---|
| 9/19 | -31.9% |
| 9/26 | -31.5% |
| 10/3 | -29.6% |
| 10/10 | -29.2% |
| 10/17 | -30.7% |
| 10/24 | -31.7% |
| 10/31 | -29.0% |
| 11/7 | -35.9% |
| 11/14 | -32.7% |
| 11/21 | -32.6% |
| 11/28 | -28.5% |
| 12/5 | -37.9% |
| 12/12 | -37.4% |
| 12/19 | -26.4% |
This suggests no improvement over the last three months.
At one point, gasoline supplied was off almost 50% YoY.
As of December 18th, gasoline supplied was off about 13.8% YoY (about 86.2% of last year).
Note: People driving instead of flying might have boosted gasoline consumption over the summer.
This graph is from Apple mobility. From Apple: "This data is generated by counting the number of requests made to Apple Maps for directions in select countries/regions, sub-regions, and cities." This is just a general guide - people that regularly commute probably don't ask for directions.
There is also some great data on mobility from the Dallas Fed Mobility and Engagement Index. However the index is set "relative to its weekday-specific average over January–February", and is not seasonally adjusted, so we can't tell if an increase in mobility is due to recovery or just the normal increase in the Spring and Summer.
The graph is the running 7 day average to remove the impact of weekends.
IMPORTANT: All data is relative to January 13, 2020. This data is NOT Seasonally Adjusted. People walk and drive more when the weather is nice, so I'm just using the transit data.
According to the Apple data directions requests, public transit in the 7 day average for the US is at 41% of the January level. It is at 28% in Chicago, and 49% in Houston - and mostly trending down over the last few months (this dips on holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas).
Here is some interesting data on New York subway usage (HT BR).
This data is through Friday, December 25th.
Schneider has graphs for each borough, and links to all the data sources.
He notes: "Data updates weekly from the MTA’s public turnstile data, usually on Saturday mornings".
Sunday, December 27, 2020
Sunday Night Futures
by Calculated Risk on 12/27/2020 09:24:00 PM
Weekend:
• Schedule for Week of December 27, 2020
• Ten Economic Questions for 2021
• Question #10 for 2021: How much damage did the pandemic do to certain sectors?
Monday:
• At 10:30 AM ET, Dallas Fed Survey of Manufacturing Activity for December. This is the last of regional manufacturing surveys for December.
From CNBC: Pre-Market Data and Bloomberg futures S&P 500 futures are up 8 and DOW futures are up 55 (fair value).
Oil prices were down over the last week with WTI futures at $47.73 per barrel and Brent at $50.72 barrel. A year ago, WTI was at $62, and Brent was at $69 - so WTI oil prices are down over 20% year-over-year.
Here is a graph from Gasbuddy.com for nationwide gasoline prices. Nationally prices are at $2.25 per gallon. A year ago prices were at $2.57 per gallon, so gasoline prices are down $0.32 per gallon year-over-year.
December 27 COVID-19 Test Results; Expected dip in the data over the holidays
by Calculated Risk on 12/27/2020 07:04:00 PM
The US is now averaging close to 2 million tests per day. Based on the experience of other countries, for adequate test-and-trace (and isolation) to reduce infections, the percent positive needs to be under 5% (probably close to 1%), so the US has far too many daily cases - and percent positive - to do effective test-and-trace.
There were 1,373,305 test results reported over the last 24 hours.
There were 152,461 positive tests.
Over 65,000 US deaths have been reported so far in December, surpassing April as the deadliest month. See the graph on US Daily Deaths here.
This data is from the COVID Tracking Project.
The percent positive over the last 24 hours was 11.1% (red line is 7 day average). The percent positive is calculated by dividing positive results by total tests (including pending).
And check out COVID Act Now to see how each state is doing. (updated link to new site)
Question #10 for 2021: How much damage did the pandemic do to certain sectors?
by Calculated Risk on 12/27/2020 04:55:00 PM
Earlier I posted some questions for next year: Ten Economic Questions for 2021. I'm adding some thoughts, and maybe some predictions for each question.
10) Economic Scarring: Some sectors were hit especially hard during the pandemic, like travel (hotels, airlines, cruise ships), and entertainment (restaurants, theaters, concerts). Also some areas of Commercial Real Estate (retail, hotels, offices) might suffer long term damage. How much damage did the pandemic do to certain sectors?
The pandemic will likely cause some medium to long term economic scarring. As an example, the lack of in person education for part of the year, might slow learning for many children. But that is beyond the scope of this question - I'm focused on the impact on the 2021 economy.
If we could flip a switch, and end the pandemic today, there would be certain sectors that would still have problems. And the end to the pandemic will probably be more like a dimmer switch, and slowly fade away in Q2 and Q3 (we hope).
This graph shows the Architecture Billings Index since 1996. The index was at 46.3 in November, down from 47.5 in October. Anything below 50 indicates contraction in demand for architects' services.
Here are the Ten Economic Questions for 2021 and a few predictions:
• Question #1 for 2021: How much will the economy grow in 2021?
• Question #2 for 2021: Will all the jobs lost in 2020 return in 2021, or will job growth be sluggish?
• Question #3 for 2021: What will the unemployment rate be in December 2021?
• Question #4 for 2021: Will the overall participation rate increase to pre-pandemic levels (63.4% in February 2020) , or will it will only partially recover in 2021?
• Question #5 for 2021: Will the core inflation rate increase in 2021? Will too much inflation be a concern in 2021?
• Question #6 for 2021: Will the Fed raise rates in 2021? What about the asset purchase program?
• Question #7 for 2021: How much will RI increase in 2021? How about housing starts and new home sales in 2021?
• Question #8 for 2021: What will happen with house prices in 2021?
• Question #9 for 2021: Will inventory increase as the pandemic subsides, or will inventory decrease further in 2021?
• Question #10 for 2021: How much damage did the pandemic do to certain sectors?


