by Calculated Risk on 7/11/2011 10:58:00 PM

• From Nick Timiraos at the WSJ: U.S. Tackles Housing Slump

The Obama administration is ramping up talks on how to revive the housing market ... Policy ideas include having taxpayer-owned mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac relax their rules for loans to investors, allowing those buyers to vacuum up excess housing inventory. In certain markets, Fannie and Freddie could hold some foreclosed homes off the market and rent them out ... Officials also could sweeten incentives for banks to reduce loan balances for borrowers who are underwater ...

I'll have some thoughts on this later this week, but some of these proposals (like converting some owners to renters) make sense.

• From Mary Ellen Podmolik at the Chicago Tribune: Realty trade group overreported Chicago home prices (ht Eric, Austin, Peter)

The Illinois Association of Realtors dramatically overreported the median price of condominiums sold within the city of Chicago in May, with the price tumbling 23 percent year-over-year, not rising 10.3 percent as the trade group said.

The state Realtors' group acknowledged the error after the Tribune, acting on a tip, questioned the accuracy of the data.

A key sentence was at the bottom of the story:

In February, questions arose about the accuracy of home sales data as reported monthly by the National Association of Realtors, and whether the trade group had been overestimating the volume of existing home sales since 2007.

Possibly as soon as August, the national group will issue revised- and revised downward - national home sales numbers going back at least three years.

So we might get the revisions in August (Note: I broke this story about the revisions in January, not February).

by Calculated Risk on 7/11/2011 07:46:00 PM

I know everyone was waiting for this ... here is the statement by the Eurogroup

Ministers reaffirmed their absolute commitment to safeguard financial stability in the euro area. To this end, Ministers stand ready to adopt further measures that will improve the euro area’s systemic capacity to resist contagion risk, including enhancing the flexibility and the scope of the EFSF, lengthening the maturities of the loans and lowering the interest rates, including through a collateral arrangement where appropriate. Proposals to this effect will be presented to Ministers shortly.

Ministers discussed the main parameters of a new multi-annual adjustment programme for Greece, which will build on strong commitments to fiscal consolidation, ambitious growth-enhancing structural reforms and a substantial privatisation of state assets. Ministers welcomed the reinforcement of monitoring mechanisms of the programme of Greece, the nomination of the board of the privatisation agency, which comprises two observers representing euro area Member States and the European Commission, and agreed to provide extended technical assistance to Greece. They called upon the Greek government to sustain its on-going efforts to meet these commitments in full and on time.

Ministers welcomed the decision by the IMF to disburse the latest tranche of financial assistance to Greece, as well as the proposals from the private sector to voluntarily contribute to the financing of a second programme, building on the work already underway. The ECB confirmed its position, reaffirmed by its Governing Council last Thursday, that a credit event or selective default should be avoided.

While the responsibility for resolving the crisis in Greece lies primarily with Greece, Ministers recognised the need for a broader and more forward-looking policy response to assist the government in its efforts to bolster debt sustainability and thereby safeguard financial stability in the euro area.

In this context, Ministers have tasked the Eurogroup Working Group to propose measures to reinforce the current policy response to the crisis in Greece. The Eurogroup Working Group will notably explore the modalities for financing a new multi-annual adjustment programme, steps to reduce the cost of debt-servicing and means to improve the sustainability of Greek public debt. This reinforced strategy should provide the basis for an agreement in the Eurogroup on the main elements and financing of a second adjustment programme for Greece shortly.

Ministers commit to continue negotiating with the European Parliament the
legislative proposals to reinforce economic governance in the European Union in order to agree on an ambitious reform as soon as possible. The reinforced governance should be fully operational without delay.

It sounds like they will expand the EFSF to buy back bonds of Greece, Ireland and Portugal. That might buy some time, but there is no mention of Italy - and if Italy goes, the EU has lost containment.

by Calculated Risk on 7/11/2011 05:51:00 PM

I've been following the Sacramento market to see the change in mix over time (conventional, REOs, and short sales) in a distressed area. The Sacramento Association of REALTORS® started breaking out REOs in May 2008, and short sales in June 2009.

I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking for, but hopefully I'll know it when I see it! As some point, the number (and percent) of distressed sales will start to decline without foreclosure moratoria, homebuyer tax credits or other distortions. There is no sign of a decline yet (except seasonal).

The percent of distressed sales in Sacramento declined slightly in June compared to May because of a seasonal pickup in conventional sales. In June 2011, 65.2% of all resales (single family homes and condos) were distressed sales. This is down from 65.6% in May, and up from 62.4% in June 2010.

Here are the statistics.

Click on graph for larger image in graph gallery.

This graph shows the percent of REO, short sales and conventional sales. There is a seasonal pattern for conventional sales (strong in the spring and summer), and distressed sales happen all year - so the percentage of distressed sales decreases every summer.

Notes: Prior to June 2009, it is unclear if short sales were included as REO or as "conventional" - or some of both. The tax credits might have also boosted conventional sales in 2009 and early 2010.

by Calculated Risk on 7/11/2011 03:55:00 PM

Today was mostly about Europe.

As the Financial Times reported this weekend, European policymakers appear to be finally accepting some sort of default is inevitable for Greece. On Italy: the deficit is 4.6% of GDP (not horrible), but their debt is 120% of GDP - and their growth is slow.

From the NY Times: Italy Evolves Into E.U.’s Next Weak Link

In recent days, Italy has become Europe’s next weak link after Greece, Ireland and Portugal and Spain ... Italy’s banks are sound; they never speculated in a housing bubble. The current annual budget deficit is low, at around 4.6 percent of its gross domestic product. And while Italy issues the largest amount of bonds of any euro zone country, Italians own about half the debt, making it less vulnerable to the follies of financial markets.

But with interest rates rising, Italy’s economy is not growing fast enough to cover an accumulated debt load of 120 percent of gross domestic product, the second-highest in Europe, after Greece. The International Monetary Fund expects growth to rise only slightly, to 1.3 percent in 2012.

From the WSJ: Euro Zone Still Seeks Private-Sector Solution

Several European officials said Monday that a significant private-sector contribution to a second bailout package remained critical even if the rating agencies branded it a default.

"I am more searching for a solution than a rating," Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders said before a meeting of euro-zone finance ministers here. "If it's with a negative reaction from the rating agencies, that's not a problem."

Earlier I posted the bond yields in Europe with record highs for several countries (Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Italy).

by Calculated Risk on 7/11/2011 11:45:00 AM

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reports carload traffic in June 2011 increased 0.9 percent compared with the same month last year (up slightly), and intermodal traffic (using intermodal or shipping containers) increased 4.6 percent compared with June 2010. On a seasonally adjusted basis, carloads in June 2011 were down 0.7% from May 2011; intermodal in June 2011 was down 2.4% from May 2011.

June 2011, like the previous couple of months, was not a great month for U.S. rail carload traffic. U.S. freight railroads originated 1,428,580 carloads in June 2011, an average of 285,716 per week — up 0.9% (13,232 carloads) over June 2010 and up 11.6% (148,793 carloads) over June 2009 on a non-seasonally adjusted basis.

Click on graph for larger image in graph gallery.

This graph shows U.S. average weekly rail carloads (NSA).

As the first graph shows, rail carload traffic collapsed in November 2008, and now, 2 years into the recovery, carload traffic has recovered less than half way.

For the last few months, traffic has been tracking 2010 (little growth from last year).

According to the AAR, carloads for 14 of 20 commodities they track were up in June, but carloads for coal were down, and that really impacts overall traffic.

The second graph is for intermodal traffic (using intermodal or shipping containers):

June 2011 was a better month for U.S. intermodal traffic than for U.S. carload traffic, but intermodal growth slowed. U.S. railroads originated 1,152,432 intermodal trailers and containers in June 2011, up 4.6% over June 2010. That’s a decent year-over-year monthly increase, but it’s the lowest since January 2010.
excerpts with permission

So intermodal traffic has been fairly strong, but carload traffic (commodities and autos) is only about half way back to pre-recession levels.