by Calculated Risk on 1/18/2013 01:48:00 PM

Here are the Fed transcripts for 2007.

From the WSJ: Fed's 2007 Transcripts Show Shift to Alarm

The Fed entered 2007 with interest-rate policies on hold and many officials comfortable about the economic outlook. By year-end, the U.S. was in recession ...

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke ... was often behind the curve in his economic outlook. In January, for example, he projected that the "worst outcomes" for housing had become less likely. In May, he said he saw "good fundamental reasons to think that growth will be moderate."

He began to see after midyear that strains in financial markets threatened to move beyond housing to the broader economy and financial system. Mr. Bernanke himself slowly took on a more interventionist stance, but appears to have embraced that position reluctantly.
...
Meanwhile, Janet Yellen, then president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and now the central bank's vice chairman, became increasingly alarmed about the growing risks to the economy as the year progressed.

"I still feel the presence of a 600-pound gorilla in the room, and that is the housing sector," she said in June 2007. "The risk for further significant deterioration in the housing market, with house prices falling and mortgage delinquencies rising further, causes me appreciable angst."

By December, she was pushing the Fed for aggressive responses to the crisis. "At the time of our last meeting, I held out hope that the financial turmoil would gradually ebb and the economy might escape without serious damage. Subsequent developments have severely shaken that belief," she said in December.

One of my ongoing criticisms of Bernanke was that he was "behind the curve".

And some excerpts from FT Alphaville: From subprime to crisis: the Fed’s 2007 transcripts and 2007 FOMC transcripts: a few more excerpts. Janet Yellen in September 2007:

"We see a large drop in house prices as quite likely to adversely affect consumption spending over time through a number of different channels, including wealth effects, collateral effects, and negative effects on spending through the interest rate resets. A big worry is that a significant drop in house prices might occur in the context of job losses, and this could lead to a vicious spiral of foreclosures, further weakness in housing markets, and further reductions in consumer spending. ... at this point I am concerned that the potential effects of the developing credit crunch could be substantial. I recognize that there’s a tremendous amount of uncertainty around any estimate. But I see the skew in the distribution to be primarily to the downside, reflecting possible adverse spillovers from housing to consumption and business investment."

And from the WaPo Wonkblog: The Fed’s 2007 crisis response: Twinkies, pessimism pills, and missed warnings.

by Calculated Risk on 1/18/2013 10:59:00 AM

From the BLS: Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Summary

Regional and state unemployment rates were generally little changed in December. Twenty-two states recorded unemployment rate decreases, 16 states and the District of Columbia posted increases, and 12 states had no change, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Forty-two states and the District of Columbia registered unemployment rate decreases from a year earlier, six states experienced increases, and two states had no change.
...
Nevada and Rhode Island recorded the highest unemployment rates among the states in December, 10.2 percent each. North Dakota again registered the lowest jobless rate, 3.2 percent.

Click on graph for larger image in graph gallery.

This graph shows the current unemployment rate for each state (red), and the max during the recession (blue). All states are below the maximum unemployment rate for the recession.

The size of the blue bar indicates the amount of improvement - Michigan, Ohio and Nevada have seen the largest declines - New Jersey is the laggard.

The states are ranked by the highest current unemployment rate. Only two states still have double digit unemployment rates: Nevada and Rhode Island. In early 2010, 18 states and D.C. had double digit unemployment rates.

I expect the unemployment rate in Nevada to fall below 10% very soon.

Even though Nevada still has the highest unemployment rate (tied with Rhode Island), the rate has declined in recent months, falling from 12.1% in August to 10.2% in December.

All current employment graphs

by Calculated Risk on 1/18/2013 09:55:00 AM

Click on graph for larger image.

The preliminary Reuters / University of Michigan consumer sentiment index for January declined to 71.3 from the December reading of 72.9.

This was below the consensus forecast of 75.0. There are a number of factors that can impact sentiment including unemployment, gasoline prices and other concerns - and, for January, the payroll tax increase and Congress' threat to not pay the bills.

Back in August 2011, sentiment declined sharply due to the threat of default and the debt ceiling debate. Unfortunately it appears Congress is negatively impacting sentiment once again.

by Calculated Risk on 1/17/2013 09:18:00 PM

First from Merrill Lynch on more mortgage credit: "Housing heats up"

[W]e believe recent developments on mortgage policy and mortgage servicing could lead to loosening of credit, providing further upside momentum for prices. We highlight three important steps forward the mortgage market has made.

One major development was the announcement of the final definition of a Qualified Mortgage (QM) by the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB). The rule focuses on a borrower’s ability to repay, setting a 43% back-end debt-toincome ratio (DTI) as a clear upper boundary. By adhering to this guideline and avoiding risky loan features (such as IO, neg am, balloons, etc.) for prime quality borrowers, lenders can claim a “safe harbor” from future litigation from borrowers. ...
...
[R]elease of the QM definition is an important step forward that should enable lenders to increase their willingness to make residential mortgage loans.

Additionally, ten mortgage servicing companies ... reached an agreement in principle with regulators ... As a result of this agreement, the participating servicers would cease the Independent Foreclosure Review, which involved case-by-case reviews, and replace it with a broader framework allowing eligible borrowers to receive compensation significantly more quickly. We believe the end of this Review process should free up and create aggregate servicing capacity that could be used for other activities such as moving distressed loans through the pipeline more quickly and processing refinancing applications, suggesting higher voluntary and possibly involuntary prepayments in the future.

Furthermore, Fannie Mae announced a comprehensive resolution with Bank of America ... The resolution included Fannie Mae’s approval of Bank of America’s request to transfer the servicing rights of approximately 941,000 loans to specialty servicers. Bank of America also announced that it signed definitive agreements with two different counterparties to sell the servicing rights on certain residential mortgage loans serviced for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae, and private label securitizations, with an aggregate unpaid principal balance of approximately $306 billion. Our view is that these transfers effectively act as an injection of servicing capacity into the industry, which should allow for more refinancing activity, more loss mitigation activity and, ultimately, loosening of mortgage credit.

More credit availability is one reason Merrill Lynch increased their house price forecast for 2013 to 4.7% (up from 3.0%).

Friday economic releases:
• At 9:55 AM ET, Reuter's/University of Michigan's Consumer sentiment index (preliminary for January). The consensus is for a reading of 75.0, up from 72.9.

• At 10:00 AM, Regional and State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) for November 2012

by Calculated Risk on 1/17/2013 05:20:00 PM

CR note: Economist Tom Lawler's forecasts for 2012 were very close (see: Lawler: Housing Forecast for 2012). Here is what Tom wrote on January 16, 2012:

“(T)here are pretty decent reasons to believe that 2012 will be a turnaround year for the housing sector, with (1) construction activity increasing; (2) overall vacancy rates falling, with especially low rental vacancy rates; (3) rents continuing to increase, and outpacing overall inflation; and (4) home prices hitting a bottom early in the year that is not much lower than the end of last year (2011).”

The following is from Tom Lawler: 2012 "Surprises" in Housing and 2013 Forecast

Here are a few observations on last year’s housing market, including some of the bigger “surprises.”

1. Home Prices: While it seemed reasonably to expect a modest YOY gain in home prices (as measured by repeat-transactions HPIs), it appears as if the “actual” gain will come in well above the most optimistic of forecasters. “Reasons” included but are not limited to (1) much larger than expected declines in inventories, (2) substantial increases in investor purchases of SF homes, and (3) continued actions by monetary policymakers to engage in fiscal policy by buying MBS to push mortgage rates lower and thus encourage credit flows into a specific sector of the economy (housing).

2. Inventories: While a continued reduction in homes listed for sale seemed exceedingly likely in 2012, the magnitude of the drop clearly exceeded “consensus.” “Reasons” included but were not limited to (1) strong investor buying of SF homes and turning them into rental properties; and 2) a slower than consensus pace of completed foreclosures which, combined with strong demand for REO properties, resulted in a sharp drop in the inventory of REO for sale;

3. Investor Buying of SF Homes as Rental Properties: While investor buying of SF homes as rental properties began increasing significantly several years ago, the entrance of and/or increased activity by “big-money” institutional investors resulted in a substantial increase in such investor buying. Such activity was barely contemplated by “consensus” forecasters.

3. Completed Foreclosures: In 2011 the “robo-signing” scandal led to a significant slowdown in completed foreclosures in the latter part of that year. Many analysts had expected that once the infamous mortgage “settlement” was signed (in March 2012) that banks/servicers would shortly thereafter accelerate completed foreclosures. That didn’t happen; instead servicers spent much of 2012 focusing on compliance (including ending dual tracking); there was a resurgence in modification activity; and foreclosure timelines continued to increase (and in several states legislation was passed that effectively lengthened timelines in those states). As a result, 2012 was another low “foreclosure resolution” year.

4: Rental Vacancy Rates and Rents: While the decline in rental vacancy rates and increase in rents last year was not as much of a surprise as the drop in homes listed for sale and the increase in home prices, the RVR fell by more, and rents increased by more, than “consensus.”

5. Homeownership Rates: While there are no good, timely data on the US homeownership rate (the widely tracked HVS overstates the homeownership rate), available data combined with analysis of the systematic undercount of renters in CPS-based surveys, suggests that the US homeownership rate declined again in 2012 – probably to around 63.7%, compared to the 65.2% on April 1, 2010 suggested by the decennial Census results. (HVS showed a first-half 2010 homeownership rate of 67.0%). Reasons included a shift by householders on the benefits vs. costs of homeownership; what appears to have been a rebound in household growth of “younger” adults; tight mortgage underwriting; and an increase in householders with “troubled” credit.

Looking into 2013, reduced inventory levels, firmer home prices and rental rates, and a likely acceleration in household growth suggest that housing production should increase again in 2013. Moreover, unlike in 2010 and 2011 (when inventories remained elevated), such an increase would be a welcome result.

My “best guess” for housing production this year is as follows:

	US Housing Starts (000's)			Mfg. Housing
	Total	Single Family	Multifamily (2+)	Shipments
2012	780	535.5	244.5	55
2013(F)	965	675	290	60
	US Housing Completions (000's)			Placements
2012	651.4	484.6	166.8	50
2013(F)	840	605	235	57

On the home-price front, I’m still trying to get a “handle” on 2012’s gain. In the December 2011 Zillow survey my Q4/Q4 forecast for the % increase in the SPCS “national” HPI was 2.5% for 2012 and 6.0% for 2013. But the “actual” for 2012 is likely to exceed 6%. – though the Q4/11 SPCS HPI appears to have been “hit” with some depressed “distressed” sales prices. Right now my best guess is for a Q4/Q4 YOY increase of about 3.0%.

I’ll have more details, and some thoughts on the risks to the forecast (NOT focusing on “macro” risks), either tomorrow or next week.

CR Note: This was from housing economist Tom Lawler. Here is a link to several other 2013 housing forecasts.