Question of the week: What will be the cost of waiting, or is there one, to purchase your new home in mid to late 2019, or 2020, instead of now or the near future?
Answer: This installment of the Weekly Rate & Market update is a follow up to the WR&MU of November 16th when the question of the week was “What was the cost of waiting?”
I got very carried away writing the update this week and to follow is a lot of detailed economic information. My conclusion shown at the end is that there is little cost to waiting, but likely not a lot of benefit, if you can afford to purchase where you want to purchase today. If you are waiting for prices to drop significantly so you can afford to purchase in area you could afford a few years ago but cannot today, then your cost of waiting is the cost of homes in areas you can afford likely going up as will the home you currently cannot afford—essentially to see a decline in values of 15-20% is not very likely so you should change your expectations and neighborhoods to where you can buy. For those interested in my more detailed observations, bless you and read on!
The answer to this week’s question is speculation on my part based on several economic factors, trends and some educated guessing. Regarding the educated guessing part, I have degree in economics and political studies and have been a student of both for over 35 years. (Two famous jokes about economics at the end of the update for those interested. They were funny when I was in college, not sure they still are…)
To answer the question of the week, I am going to flip the standard format of the WR&MU by presenting economic news this week and how it relates to interest rates, then extrapolate out to what I see for 2019.
As you read the following keep in mind that there is upward pressure on rates when economies are doing well and there is inflation, there is downward pressure when economies are sluggish, slow growth or recession, and if there are extremely negative events such as threats of war, war, or economic collapse in other nations.
While economic data is usually the primary driver for interest rates, politics also has an influence. This weekend a political event will occur that could/should impact not only rates but our economy for the near and possibly long-term future. President Trump will be in Buenos Aires for the G20 summit and has a meeting scheduled with Chinese President Xi Jinping for the purpose of discussing the tariff war between the two largest economies in the world—by three to four-fold over the next nearest.
If the meeting goes poorly and there no movement to lower tariffs, or either or both sides are so upset they raise more tariffs, we will see higher rates due to higher inflation. With tariffs increasing prices of Chinese goods imported into the United States those goods will need to either be manufactured in the United States or imported from other nations. Either scenario will increase the prices of the goods, for those manufactured in the U.S. companies will need to hire workers in an economy that is at or near full employment, which will require higher wages, as well as purchase materials required to manufacture the increased supply of goods they will need to sell. Higher prices lead to higher rates.
The meeting will be considered “good” if there are mutual statements of starting talks to find common ground on the issues that led to the tariffs, mainly market dumping, counterfeiting of American brands and piracy of intellectual property. Any indication that both sides are looking to de-escalate will likely lead to lower rates as the expectation will be a relief on inflationary pressures and avoidance of further conflict.
This critical meeting between Trump and Xi can have a significant impact on our housing markets due to their potential impact on mortgage rates.
Another non-data event this week has had an impact on mortgage rates. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell gave a speech to the Economic Club of New York. In the speech, he said that he believes rates are “near neutral,” and that prior business cycles have ended not due to inflation but rather because of asset prices. Regarding “near neutral,” this comment had investors buying bonds, and mortgages, putting downward pressure on rates as they read the comment to mean that the Fed may not increase rates four times between now and the end of 2019. Instead of the Fed rate increasing one percent over the next thirteen months, perhaps only three-quarters of a percent, or one-half of a percent. The comment about asset prices ending cycles instead of inflation brings forth another interpretation is that the Fed may shift from using inflation as their primary basis for rate increases and somehow may be looking at over all prices in different markets such as stocks and housing. If these interpretations are correct, and the Fed does strongly signal fewer rate increases in the near future the impact can be a sparking sales in the housing markets as rates remain near current levels or perhaps dip in the coming months/year.
Real and potential statements are not the only news impacting rates, and therefore housing markets, this week. We also had some real data, starting with consumer confidence for November. Consumer confidence impacts rates as consumer spending is 65-70% of our economy, happy and confident consumers are expected to spend more, leading to economic growth, leading to inflationary pressures, which lead to higher rates. The consumer confidence index dropped in November for the first time in five months, however the decline is not overly surprising since the October index was the highest in 18 years. The primary factor in the November decline was primarily due to feelings by respondents that they would see little to no income growth in 2019.
Speaking of consumers, this week we receive data on their spending and income in October. Consumer spending in October saw a big increase, 0.6%, from September, a good sign for retailers heading into the Christmas shopping season and a good sign for the Gross Domestic Product growth number for the 4th quarter, and for the year. Strong GDP growth is a strong indicator of inflation, which, as we have said repeatedly, leads to higher rates. Consumers increased spending in October, and earned more as incomes rose 0.5% from September, the highest monthly increase since January. Stronger earnings are also inflationary as they a) provide more money in households for spending and b) increase costs for employers who must raise their prices to accommodate the higher costs.
Released the same day as the reports on income and spending was the rate of inflation as calculated using the “PCE gauge,” which is the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation index (it excludes food and energy and thus is labelled the “core inflation rate”). Despite higher spending and incomes, the annualized rate of inflation for October was 2%, right around the Fed’s target rate of inflation. The news is interest rate friendly and supports the Fed Chair’s statement about rates being “near neutral.”
Before we answer the question about if there will be a continued cost to waiting to purchase a new home we must look at the most recent housing data for our Southern California markets. The quick synopsis is that local markets are in a period of transition according to data from the California Association of Realtors. State wide the median price in October for single family homes was down 1.2% from September, but up 4.7% from last October at $572,000. More locally, in LA and Orange Counties the median movement month to month and year to year somewhat mirror the activity statewide. The median price in LA County in October was $614,500, 3.2% lower than September and 5.9% higher than 2017; Orange County saw the median price from September drop 1.8% to $810,000 but was still 3.1% higher than in 2017.
Total sales volume, i.e. units sold, were up statewide month over month, 3.8%, and down 7.9% year over year. Like with prices, units sold locally were also up monthly and down annually. In LA County, there was surge in sales in October, climbing 29% from September, however the total sales volume for the month was down 5.9% from last year. In Orange County, sales also increased from September but a much more modest 3.9%, and also decreased from 2017 with a drop of 11.3%.
Month to month the trend is more sales at lower prices, plus increasing inventory on the market and longer periods of homes on the market before being sold. One other pattern is a growth in the number of cancelled or expired listings that are not renewed.
Back to our question, what does all this mean about housing markets and if there will be a cost to waiting to purchase a new home.
The data is somewhat murky for both the economy and the housing markets—murky usually means transition. Is the transition in the benefit of those looking to purchase homes? If there is a buyer’s market, how much of benefit will there be and for long?
The economic transition seems to point to a recession late in 2019, which means the slow down starts in early to mid-2019. This is not an uncommon thesis, as others reading the economic data are also indicating a stronger probability for a recession in the next twelve months. If this occurs the biggest question will be the depth and length. In my opinion, the depth will be fairly shallow and the length fairly short. Keep in mind a recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth, that would cover six months or more.
If there is a recession the impact on housing markets would depend on the cause of the recession, is it a decline in asset values as Fed Chair Powell stated? Is it inflation? The cause will be a primary factor in impact on housing markets.
If the cause is primarily driven by asset prices being too high, then as prices decline, or remain somewhat stable with incomes and other prices increasing, then rates will be dropping into and during any price corrections or stabilization making homes more affordable than they are today.
If the cause is primarily driven by inflation then even if housing prices drop the affordability will not necessarily increase as rates will be increasing to slow inflation. We can see an economy with rising energy, food, clothing, houseware costs but dropping, or stable, costs for large ticket items such as housing and automobiles. If this is the case rates will be climbing resulting in the month costs of housing, i.e. mortgage rates, climbing. If this is the case then the length and depth of a housing correction will likely be longer and perhaps a bit deeper than if there is an asset based cause for a correction.
When looking at housing markets we must acknowledge the uniqueness of California as a whole and Southern California in particular. Besides the weather, which will always be a draw, the lack of available land to build more homes in the any county that touches the ocean is a huge factor. Yes, there are some areas still in the region for new homes to be built, however overall the vast majority is fully developed. In many areas, new housing is going vertical with high rises and not horizontal with single family residences with yards. This inability to add significant supply will sustain a certain level for housing markets locally.
What about the housing crash ten years ago, space availability was not much different, so why did home prices drop so much? Great question to look at. The foundation for the market was built largely on panic buying and people more concerned with making money on a property purchase instead of a buying a family home. Homes were purchased with no verification of income, funds to purchase and in many cases no hard appraisals. Mortgage products were available that enable buyers to purchase way beyond their capabilities, and as prices rose many were looking to sell their homes quickly for a profit and buy their next home. When prices started to drop many found themselves in homes with loan balances higher than property values due to no down payment purchases, rather than pay it many walked away and foreclosures rose putting more downward pressure on the market. Eventually prices did stabilize as buyers who had been priced out of the market were able to purchase due to lower prices and rates.
Finally, the market collapse a decade ago was not a result of a recession caused by inflation, or high interest rates, but rather because of poor lending standards and mortgage products that created an unnatural inflation in housing prices. When investors started looking into the mortgages being sold on the market that were based on little to no verification of ability to repay on homes that had climbed in value at unheard of rates, they stopped buying those mortgages. The result was a domino effect that pulled the nation, and the globe, into recession.
One very large impact that compounded the decline in values was the lack of qualified buyers to purchase homes as they hit the market—lower demand with higher supply continued the price declines. Many families that might have qualified to purchase a new home were prevented from doing so for several years because of the foreclosure or short-sale on their credit records. This group was a significant number that otherwise would have absorbed inventory on the market.
Since 2010 buyers of homes have overwhelmingly been purchasing homes in which to raise families and not to make money. They have been qualified for their mortgages by proving income and funds for purchasing. Most buyers have been putting more than the minimum required down payment, so they have “skin in the game” and will be less likely to walk away or panic sell if/when market prices dip.
The run up in real estate values over the past several years was created by qualified buyers competing with other qualified buyers to purchase homes. The mixed market we now see, with housing values starting to decline, sales down one month and up the next, is based on affordability due to the price increases exacerbated by the increase in rates since the start of the year. The pool of buyers has not shrunk, and will not shrink because of any market transition, what has changed is the price for which they can qualify and/or their desire to purchase in a market they see as transitioning so they are waiting for prices and rates to drop.
All of this said, and I apologize for my long-winded path to this point but I wanted to be somewhat thorough, I do not feel there is a large cost to waiting, but I also do not feel there is a large benefit to be gained by waiting to purchase a new home.
Many sellers, or would be sellers, are holding properties off the market as they desire a higher price for their home than the market will support. For the past few years new listings have come on the market at the highest price in the neighborhood, or just beyond, and buyers have been over-bidding the list price to obtain the home. More recently homes are selling at or just below list prices, causing potential seller to hold off until prices increase again.
Note, “again.” Because of the lack of ability to build more housing near the coasts (let’s define “near” 25 to 30 miles from the ocean from San Diego to Santa Monica) there is limited ability to expand supply, any increase in demand will push up housing prices. Natural attrition is due to death, divorce, and relocation will dictate supply, population growth and aging as more people enter the age of homeownership will dictate demand. Demand will not be able to be sated with new housing, hence existing housing will be what is available for buyers to bid on. Over time Southern California coastal residential housing goes up. How soon and how much changes depending on what time frame, over longer periods of time however prices climb.
Looking into 2019 housing prices will dip in some areas, drop in others and stay somewhat constant in other areas. Rates should remain near current levels, possibly declining towards the middle to end of year if/when economy slows down, but since they are already so low (historically discounting the false rates created by the government and Fed starting in 2008) there will not be a significant drop as we saw following the last recession. What I do see happening is families slowly moving their geographical areas of desirability to neighborhoods they can afford. The home they can purchase to purchase for $500,000 is no longer available in the neighborhood they were hoping to purchase in one, two or three years ago; that $500,000 home is now selling for $550,000 to $600,000. Where homes were selling for perhaps $425,000 – $450,000 two or three years ago are likely the $500,000 homes today. The decision will be, do we buy a home in an area we did not want to purchase in before or do we wait and hope real estate prices drop 15-20% to $500,000 to buy where we initially wanted to, or do we continue to rent with rents still increasing?
I believe the cost of waiting will be that if you stick to your desired area to purchase and hope for prices to decline significantly you will continue to rent until some major change in your financial situation to purchase a home in that area. The cost of waiting into the future will be lost opportunity in neighborhoods of lesser value that you can afford as families start to purchase in those areas, slowly increase their values and changing the neighborhoods with higher ownership density.
If you are able to purchase a home in your desired area, I do not see any significant cost in waiting, but not a lot of benefit to waiting either. Yes, prices may dip some more into the new year, yes rates may dip some more into the new year; however when will you know that the dips have stopped? When will you know that the time is perfect to purchase with rates and prices, and what will be on the market at that time?
My advice has always been, when buying a home, if you like and can afford it buy it. You will be there for a long time, any changes in price over the early years of ownership will be more than made up for in the long run due to where you are buying—California. Your ultimate cost of waiting may be hoping the house you really like still being on the market when you feel the price is right.
Sellers on the market now want to sell, make an offer!
Disclaimer on this very long-winded update:
The WR&MU on October 21, 2016 had a total miss on my part for predicting economic recession, in fact the exact opposite happened as I did not put a lot of thought into Trump winning the election and the resulting economic growth. That will provide a filter for any predictions I make, as well as others—it is all an educated guess and different guesses result on how each guesser is trained to read the tea leaves.
Have a question? Ask me!
Rates for Friday November 30, 2018: The comments by Fed Chairman Powell resulted in a nice rally for bonds and as a result the 30 year conforming rate is lower than the previous Friday for the first time in five weeks. Will it hold? Per comments above a lot depends on the meeting between Presidents Trump and Xi this weekend.
FIXED RATE MORTGAGES AT COST OF 1.25 POINTS LOCKED FOR 45 DAYS:
30 year conforming 4.625% Down 0.125%
30 year high-balance conforming 4.875% Down 0.125%
Please note that these are base rates and adjustments may be added for condominiums, refinances, credit scores, loan to value, no impound account and period rate is locked. Rates are based on 20% down with 740 FICO score for purchase mortgages.
We have three seasons in Southern California that cycle annually: Dry, Fire, Mud. When it is dry we have more fires, when it rains we get mud in many areas but especially the fire zones and the rain creates more undergrowth that gets very dry leading into the next fire season causing more and bigger fires that are then turned to mud slides….yet our state and local governments continue to allow more and more housing to be rebuilt where there are histories of fires, floods and mudslides. See Einstein’s definition of insanity.
Since it has been quite a while since we have had a drenching like yesterday, I hope your roofs, windows and other parts of your homes held tight. While we have had no water penetration the same cannot be said of the other scourge for most of the region: ants finding ways into our homes as their colonies get flooded out. The battle is on! We seem to have won the first one but know there are more to come. All that said, I don’t mind the ants a few times a year as opposed to snakes or very large arachnoids!
Enjoy the official start of the holiday season as parades and other activities begin!
Have a great week,
Dennis
Economic Jokes:
Every question asked of any economist has the same answer, resulting in no definitive answer: “On the one hand blah blah blah; one the other hand blaw, blaw, blaw.”
A company is looking to hire an analyst. There are three finalists, a physicist, a mathematician and an economist.
The physicist walks into the interview and on the white board is a question; What is the answer and why: (12-4)3 + (4(13/4)+7) – 21 = ?
After explaining his process as he is writing down several equations using vectors, calculus, etc he writes down 23, circles it and puts down the marker and stares at the interviewer. The interviewer says, “Thank you, please erase your work and send in the mathematician.”
The mathematician enters, sees the equations and mumbles to herself as she solves the problem using basic math, circles the answer of 23. She caps the marker, looks at the interviewer and says, “It is basic math and the answer is 23.”
The interviewer says, “Thank you, please erase your work and send in the economist.”
The economist walks into the room and sees the question and reads aloud, “What is the answer and why. This is a job for an analyst position correct?”
“Yes.”
“Are you the one I will be reporting to?”
“Yes.”
“Are you the one giving me the information to analyze and I presume it will then be passed along to your superiors?”
“Yes.”
The economist looks around the room. Walks to the door and locks it. Pulls a chair up very close to the interviewer, leans in and whispers, “What is the answer and why….what do you want the answer to be?”
The economist got the job.
Past Weekly Rate & Market Updates can be found on my blog page at my website www.DennisCSmith.com
