Calculated Risk

April 20th COVID-19 Vaccinations, New Cases, Hospitalizations

2021-04-20T19:38:00.004-04:00

Note: I'm looking forward to not posting this daily! I've been posting this data daily for over a year, and I'll stop once all three of these criteria are met:
1) 70% of the population over 18 has had at least one dose of vaccine,
2) new cases are under 5,000 per day, and
3) hospitalizations are below 3,000.

According to the CDC, 213.4 million doses have been administered. 33.3% of the population over 18 is fully vaccinated, and 51.1% of the population over 18 has had at least one dose (131.9 million people over 18 have had at least one dose).

And check out COVID Act Now to see how each state is doing.

Almost 13,000 US deaths were reported so far in April due to COVID.

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the daily (columns) 7 day average (line) of positive tests reported.

Note: The ups and downs during the Winter surge were related to reporting delays due to the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

This data is from the CDC.

The 7-day average is 66,687, down from 68,602 yesterday, and close to the summer surge peak of 67,337 on July 23, 2020.

The second graph shows the number of people hospitalized.

This data is also from the CDC.

The CDC cautions that due to reporting delays, the area in grey will probably increase.

The current 7-day average is 38,185, up from 36,118, reported yesterday, and well above the post-summer surge low of 23,000.

Indiana Real Estate in March: Sales Down 3% YoY, Inventory Down 58% YoY

2021-04-20T18:48:00.001-04:00

Note: I'm tracking data for many local markets around the U.S. I think it is especially important to watch inventory this year.

For for the entire state Indiana:

Closed sales in March 2021 were 7,181, down 3.0% from 7,401 in March 2020.

Active Listings in March 2021 were 5,898, down 57.6% from 13,916 in March 2020.

Months of Supply was 0.7 Months in March 2021, compared to 1.8 Months in March 2020.

Alabama Real Estate in March: Sales Up 23% YoY, Inventory Down 46% YoY

2021-04-20T17:57:00.000-04:00

Note: I'm tracking data for many local markets around the U.S. I think it is especially important to watch inventory this year.

For the entire state of Alabama:

Closed sales in March 2021 were 7,024, up 23.4% from 5,690 in March 2020.

Active Listings in March 2021 were 9,721, down 46.4% from 18,122 in March 2020.

Months of Supply was 1.4 Months in March 2021, compared to 3.2 Months in March 2020.

The Upward Slope of Real House Prices

2021-04-20T12:52:00.001-04:00

Many years ago, I wrote: The upward slope of Real House Prices. I argued that real house prices (adjusted for inflation) had typically increased about 1.0% to 1.5% per year (much higher than Professor Shiller's estimate of 0.2%).

In 2012, housing economist Tom Lawler dug through some data and calculated that real prices increased 0.83% per year (See: Lawler: On the upward trend in Real House Prices)

In my previous posts, I tracked the bottom of real prices over time. This graph shows the peaks over time (the trend lines are 0.83% and 1.1%).

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows there have been four surges in real prices since the early '70s. One in the late '70s, one in the late '80s, the housing bubble, and the current surge in prices.

It is important to note that nationally nominal house prices did not decline following the surges in the '70s and '80s. However, there were regional declines.

Since homeowners are concerned about nominal prices (not real prices), I wasn't concerned in December 2018, when Professor Shiller wrote in the NY Times: The Housing Boom Is Already Gigantic. How Long Can It Last?

Here were my comments on Shiller's article in 2018:

During the housing bubble, the difference between a slight upward slope in real prices (0.2% per year according to Shiller's index) and a slightly larger increase in real prices using other indexes (probably between 1% and 1.5% per year) didn't make any difference; there was obviously a huge bubble in house prices. But when comparing price "booms" over time, there is a huge difference.

If we use 1.5% per year for real price increases, the current "boom" in prices would be the fourth largest since the 1970s (and only about half the size of the late '70s and late '80s price boom), and if we use a 1.0% real increase, the current "boom" is on the same order as the late '70s and '80s price booms.

No big deal, and definitely not a "gigantic" boom in house prices.

Since I wrote that post in 2018, house prices have increased 16% nationally (from November 2018 to January 2021) according to the Case-Shiller index. Prices in Phoenix are up 25%, and in Seattle and San Diego, up about 20% since that Shiller article was written.

And prices have increased quickly over the last few months.

Now, I'd argue house prices are too high based on historical real prices. Prices are also too high based on price-to-rent measures, and price-to-income.

I wouldn't call this a "bubble" because of the lack of both speculation and loose lending (see: Is there a New Housing Bubble?). But I am becoming concerned about fundamentals:

Maybe prices are too high based on fundamentals (due to extremely low supply and record low mortgage rates), but there is very little evidence of speculation (not like the loose lending of the housing bubble).
...
The lack of wild speculation doesn't mean house prices can't decline, but it means that we won't see cascading declines in prices like what happened when the housing bubble burst.
...
We might see some price declines, especially in some 2nd home areas that saw a surge in demand at the onset of the pandemic, but the recent buyers are all well qualified, and some price declines will not lead to forced selling. So there is no threat to the financial system with widespread defaults.

CoreLogic: Mortgage Application Fraud Risk Index increased in Q1

2021-04-20T10:38:00.000-04:00

A few excerpts from CoreLogic: Q1 2021 Mortgage Fraud Brief

The CoreLogic® National Mortgage Application Fraud Risk Index (Index) increased by 11.9% for the first quarter of 2021—from 110 to 122. The year-over-year trend is up 7.7% from Q1 2020 (at 113).

Last quarter we noted an uptick in income reasonability alerts for both purchases and refinances and that trend continued in Q1. Valuation alerts increased for all transactions, due to rapid home price increases as demand exceeds supply. We observed a slight increase in occupancy alerts for refinances, along with a decrease in flipping alerts for purchases.

We expect fraud risk to continue to rise in 2021, fueled by an insufficient supply of affordable housing and rising interest rates that will change the purchase/refinance mix. New guidelines on GSE financing for investment and second homes, including a 7% cap and stricter underwriting guidelines have the potential to heighten occupancy misrep motivations.
emphasis added

CR Note: This is still low, but something to watch.

Trends in Educational Attainment in the U.S. Labor Force

2021-04-20T08:47:00.000-04:00

The first graph shows the unemployment rate by four levels of education (all groups are 25 years and older) through March 2021. Note: This is an update to a post from a few years ago.

Unfortunately this data only goes back to 1992 and includes only three recessions (the stock / tech bust in 2001, and the housing bust/financial crisis, and the 2020 pandemic). Clearly education matters with regards to the unemployment rate, with the lowest rate for college graduates at 3.7% in March, and highest for those without a high school degree at 8.2% in March.

All four groups were generally trending down prior to the pandemic. And all are trending down now.

Click on graph for larger image.

Note: This says nothing about the quality of jobs - as an example, a college graduate working at minimum wage would be considered "employed".

This brings up an interesting question: What is the composition of the labor force by educational attainment, and how has that been changing over time?

Here is some data on the U.S. labor force by educational attainment since 1992.

Currently, almost 61 million people in the U.S. labor force have a Bachelor's degree or higher. This is almost 44% of the labor force, up from 26.2% in 1992.

This is the only category trending up. "Some college" has been steady (and trending down lately), and both "high school" and "less than high school" have been trending down.

Based on current trends, probably more than half the labor force will have at least a bachelor's degree by the end of this decade (2020s).

Some thoughts: Since workers with bachelor's degrees typically have a lower unemployment rate, rising educational attainment is probably a factor in pushing down the overall unemployment rate over time.

Also, I'd guess more education would mean less labor turnover, and that education is a factor in lower weekly claims (prior to the pandemic).

A more educated labor force is a positive for the future.

April 19th COVID-19 Vaccinations, New Cases, Hospitalizations; Spring Wave May Have Peaked

2021-04-19T17:15:00.000-04:00

Note: I'm looking forward to not posting this daily! I've been posting this data daily for over a year, and I'll stop once all three of these criteria are met:
1) 70% of the population over 18 has had at least one dose of vaccine,
2) new cases are under 5,000 per day, and
3) hospitalizations are below 3,000.

According to the CDC, 211.6 million doses have been administered. 33.0% of the population over 18 is fully vaccinated, and 50.7% of the population over 18 has had at least one dose (131.0 million people over 18 have had at least one dose).

And check out COVID Act Now to see how each state is doing.

Over 12,000 US deaths were reported so far in April due to COVID.

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the daily (columns) 7 day average (line) of positive tests reported.

Note: The ups and downs during the Winter surge were related to reporting delays due to the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

This data is from the CDC.

The 7-day average is 66,747, down from 67,964 yesterday, and close to the summer surge peak of 67,337 on July 23, 2020.

The second graph shows the number of people hospitalized.

This data is also from the CDC.

The CDC cautions that due to reporting delays, the area in grey will probably increase.

The current 7-day average is 36,118, down from 36,976, reported yesterday, and well above the post-summer surge low of 23,000.

MBA Survey: "Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Decreases to 4.50%"

2021-04-19T16:00:00.001-04:00

Note: This is as of April 11th.

From the MBA: Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Decreases to 4.50%

The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest Forbearance and Call Volume Survey revealed that the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 16 basis points from 4.66% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 4.50% as of April 11, 2021. According to MBA’s estimate, 2.3 million homeowners are in forbearance plans.
...
“The share of loans in forbearance decreased for the seventh straight week and has now dropped 40 basis points in the last two weeks. The forbearance share decreased for all three investor categories, with the rate for portfolio and PLS loans decreasing by 31 basis points this past week – the largest drop across investor categories,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. “Forbearance exits increased for portfolio and PLS loans but decreased for GSE and Ginnie Mae loans. More than 36 percent of borrowers in forbearance extensions have now exceeded the 12-month mark.”

Fratantoni added, “Economic data on home construction and consumer spending in March show a strong housing market and a quickened pace of economic activity. Combined with the homeowner assistance and stimulus payments that many households are receiving, we expect that the forbearance numbers will continue to decline in the months ahead as more individuals regain employment. Homeowners who are still facing hardships and need to extend their forbearance term should contact their servicers.”
emphasis added

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the percent of portfolio in forbearance by investor type over time. Most of the increase was in late March and early April, and has trended down since then.

The MBA notes: "Total weekly forbearance requests as a percent of servicing portfolio volume (#) remained flat relative to the prior week at 0.05%."

Recession Measures and NBER

2021-04-19T13:30:00.000-04:00

Calling the beginning or end of a recession usually takes time. However, the economic decline in March 2020 was so severe that the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) quickly called the end of the expansion in February.

The committee has determined that a peak in monthly economic activity occurred in the U.S. economy in February 2020. The peak marks the end of the expansion that began in June 2009 and the beginning of a recession. The expansion lasted 128 months, the longest in the history of U.S. business cycles dating back to 1854. The previous record was held by the business expansion that lasted for 120 months from March 1991 to March 2001.
...
The usual definition of a recession involves a decline in economic activity that lasts more than a few months. However, in deciding whether to identify a recession, the committee weighs the depth of the contraction, its duration, and whether economic activity declined broadly across the economy (the diffusion of the downturn). The committee recognizes that the pandemic and the public health response have resulted in a downturn with different characteristics and dynamics than prior recessions. Nonetheless, it concluded that the unprecedented magnitude of the decline in employment and production, and its broad reach across the entire economy, warrants the designation of this episode as a recession, even if it turns out to be briefer than earlier contractions.

The NBER will probably wait some time before calling the end of the recession, this process can take from 18 months to two years or longer. It is likely the NBER will date the beginning of the expansion in Q2 2020.

It will take some time for all major indicators to be above their previous high after the pandemic recession because of the severe contraction as the graphs below show.

GDP is the key measure, as the NBER committee notes in their business cycle dating procedure:

The committee views real GDP as the single best measure of aggregate economic activity.

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph is for real GDP through Q4 2020.

This is the key measure, and the NBER will probably use GDP and GDI to determine the trough of the recession (likely in April and in Q2 2020).

As of Q4, real GDP was 2.5% below the pre-recession peak.

Most forecasters expect GDP to increase strongly in Q1 2021, but even with a 7% annualized increase, real GDP will be down about 0.8% from Q4 2019.

Real GDP will likely be above Q4 2019 levels in Q2 2021.

The second graph is for monthly industrial production based on data from the Federal Reserve through Mar 2021.

Industrial production is off over 4.5% from the pre-recession peak.

Note that industrial production was weak prior to the onset of the pandemic.

Industrial production usually takes a long time to recover after a significant decline.

The third graph is for employment through March 2021.

Historically employment was a coincident indicator for the end of recessions, but that hasn't been true for the previous three recessions (1990-1991, 2001, 2007-2009).

Employment is currently off about 5.5% from the pre-recession peak (dashed line). This is a significant improvement from off 14.6% in April 2020.

There is still a long way to go for employment to recover to pre-pandemic levels.

And the last graph is for real personal income excluding transfer payments through Feb 2021.

Real personal income less transfer payments was still off 2.5% in February.

These graphs are useful in trying to identify peaks and troughs in economic activity.

Economic activity bottomed in Q2 (in April).

Housing Inventory April 19th Update: A Slight Increase from Record Low

2021-04-19T10:42:00.000-04:00

One of the key questions for 2021 is: Will inventory increase as the pandemic subsides, or will inventory decrease further in 2021?

Tracking inventory will be very important this year.

Click on graph for larger image in graph gallery.

This inventory graph is courtesy of Altos Research.

As of April 16th, inventory was at 312 thousand (7 day average), compared to 749 thousand the same week a year ago. That is a decline of 58%.

A week ago, inventory was at 307 thousand, and was down 59% YoY. Seasonally, inventory might have bottomed.

Mike Simonsen discusses this data regularly on Youtube.

Seven High Frequency Indicators for the Economy

2021-04-19T08:11:00.052-04:00

These indicators are mostly for travel and entertainment. It will interesting to watch these sectors recover as the vaccine is distributed.

IMPORTANT: Be safe now - if all goes well, we could all be vaccinated by June.

----- Airlines: Transportation Security Administration -----
The TSA is providing daily travel numbers.

Click on graph for larger image.

This data shows the seven day average of daily total traveler throughput from the TSA for 2019 (Light Blue), 2020 (Blue) and 2021 (Red).

The dashed line is the percent of 2019 for the seven day average.

This data is as of April 18th.

The seven day average is down 42.1% from the same day in 2019 (57.9% of last year). (Dashed line)

There was a slow increase from the bottom, with ups and downs due to the holidays - and TSA data has picked up in 2021, but down over the last week.

----- Restaurants: OpenTable -----
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.

IMPORTANT: OpenTable notes: "we’ve updated the data including downloadable dataset from January 1, 2021 onward to compare seated diners from 2021 to 2019, as opposed to year over year." Thanks!

Thanks to OpenTable for providing this restaurant data:

This data is updated through April 17, 2021.

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.

Dining picked up during the holidays, then slumped with the huge winter surge in cases. Dining was picking up again, but turned down last week.

----- Movie Tickets: Box Office Mojo -----
This data shows domestic box office for each week and the median for the years 2016 through 2019 (dashed light blue).

Blue is 2020 and Red is 2021.

The data is from BoxOfficeMojo through Apr 15th.

Note that the data is usually noisy week-to-week and depends on when blockbusters are released.

Movie ticket sales were at $33 million last week, down about 75% from the median for the week.

----- Hotel Occupancy: STR -----
This graph shows the seasonal pattern for the hotel occupancy rate using the four week average.

The red line is for 2021, black is 2020, blue is the median, and dashed light blue is for 2009 (the worst year since the Great Depression for hotels - before 2020).

Occupancy is now above the horrible 2009 levels.

This data is through April 10th. Hotel occupancy is currently down 15% compared to same week in 2019). Note: Occupancy was up year-over-year, since occupancy declined sharply at the onset of the pandemic. However, occupancy is still down significantly from normal levels.

Notes: Y-axis doesn't start at zero to better show the seasonal change.

----- Gasoline Supplied: Energy Information Administration -----
This graph, based on weekly data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), shows gasoline supplied compared to the same week of 2019.

Blue is for 2020. Red is for 2021.

As of April 9th, gasoline supplied was off about 5.1% (about 94.9% of the same week in 2019).

Gasoline supplied was up year-over-year, since at one point, gasoline supplied was off almost 50% YoY in 2020.

----- Transit: Apple Mobility -----
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.

This data is through April 17th for the United States and several selected cities.

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 66% of the January 2020 level. It is at 62% in Chicago, and 61% in Houston (the Houston dip was a weather related decline) - and moving up recently.

----- New York City Subway Usage -----
Here is some interesting data on New York subway usage (HT BR).

This graph is from Todd W Schneider. This is weekly data since 2015.

Most weeks are between 30 and 35 million entries, and currently there just above 10 million subway turnstile entries per week.

This data is through Friday, April 16th.

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 Night Futures

2021-04-18T19:38:00.003-04:00

Weekend:
• Schedule for Week of April 18, 2021

Monday:
• No major economic releases scheduled.

From CNBC: Pre-Market Data and Bloomberg futures S&P 500 futures are down 10 and DOW futures are down 75 (fair value).

Oil prices were up over the last week with WTI futures at $62.88 per barrel and Brent at $66.49 per barrel. A year ago, WTI were below zero, and Brent was at $17 - so WTI oil prices are UP sharply year-over-year (oil prices collapsed at the beginning of the pandemic).

Here is a graph from Gasbuddy.com for nationwide gasoline prices. Nationally prices are at $2.85 per gallon. A year ago prices were at $1.77 per gallon, so gasoline prices are up $1.08 per gallon year-over-year.

April 18th COVID-19 Vaccinations, New Cases, Hospitalizations; Over Half of People Over 18 Have Had at Least One Dose

2021-04-18T16:26:00.001-04:00

Note: I'm looking forward to not posting this daily! I've been posting this data daily for over a year, and I'll stop once all three of these criteria are met:
1) 70% of the population over 18 has had at least one dose of vaccine,
2) new cases are under 5,000 per day, and
3) hospitalizations are below 3,000.

According to the CDC, 209.4 million doses have been administered. 32.5% of the population over 18 is fully vaccinated, and 50.4% of the population over 18 has had at least one dose (130.0 million people over 18 have had at least one dose).

And check out COVID Act Now to see how each state is doing.

Almost 12,000 US deaths were reported so far in April due to COVID.

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the daily (columns) 7 day average (line) of positive tests reported.

Note: The ups and downs during the Winter surge were related to reporting delays due to the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

This data is from the CDC.

The 7-day average is 67,442, down from 68,509 yesterday, but above the summer surge peak of 67,337 on July 23, 2020.

The second graph shows the number of people hospitalized.

This data is also from the CDC.

The CDC cautions that due to reporting delays, the area in grey will probably increase.

The current 7-day average is 36,976, down from 37,339 reported yesterday, and well above the post-summer surge low of 23,000.

Existing Home Sales: Lawler vs. the Consensus

2021-04-18T13:36:00.000-04:00

Housing economist Tom Lawler has been sending me his predictions of what the NAR will report for 11 years. And he has graciously allowed me to share his predictions with the readers of this blog.

The table below shows the consensus for each month, Lawler's predictions, and the NAR's initially reported level of sales.

Lawler hasn't always been closer than the consensus, but usually when there has been a fairly large spread between Lawler's estimate and the "consensus", Lawler has been closer.

For example, last month Lawler estimated the NAR would report sales of 6.29 million SAAR, the consensus was 6.51 million SAAR, and the NAR reported 6.22 million SAAR.

The NAR is scheduled to release Existing Home Sales for March at 10:00 AM, Thursday, April 22nd.

The consensus is for 6.17 million SAAR in March, down from 6.22 million in Febuary. Tom Lawler estimates the NAR will report sales of 6.02 million SAAR. Based on Lawler's estimate, I expect existing home sales to be below the consensus in March.

NOTE: There have been times when Lawler "missed", but then he pointed out an apparent error in the NAR data - and the subsequent revision corrected that error. As an example, see: The “Curious Case” of Existing Home Sales in the South in April

Over the last 11 years, the consensus average miss was 147 thousand, and Lawler's average miss was 73 thousand.

Existing Home Sales, Forecasts and NAR Report millions, seasonally adjusted annual rate basis (SAAR)
Month	Consensus	Lawler	NAR reported¹
May-10	6.20	5.83	5.66
Jun-10	5.30	5.30	5.37
Jul-10	4.66	3.95	3.83
Aug-10	4.10	4.10	4.13
Sep-10	4.30	4.50	4.53
Oct-10	4.50	4.46	4.43
Nov-10	4.85	4.61	4.68
Dec-10	4.90	5.13	5.28
Jan-11	5.20	5.17	5.36
Feb-11	5.15	5.00	4.88
Mar-11	5.00	5.08	5.10
Apr-11	5.20	5.15	5.05
May-11	4.75	4.80	4.81
Jun-11	4.90	4.71	4.77
Jul-11	4.92	4.69	4.67
Aug-11	4.75	4.92	5.03
Sep-11	4.93	4.83	4.91
Oct-11	4.80	4.86	4.97
Nov-11	5.08	4.40	4.42
Dec-11	4.60	4.64	4.61
Jan-12	4.69	4.66	4.57
Feb-12	4.61	4.63	4.59
Mar-12	4.62	4.59	4.48
Apr-12	4.66	4.53	4.62
May-12	4.57	4.66	4.55
Jun-12	4.65	4.56	4.37
Jul-12	4.50	4.47	4.47
Aug-12	4.55	4.87	4.82
Sep-12	4.75	4.70	4.75
Oct-12	4.74	4.84	4.79
Nov-12	4.90	5.10	5.04
Dec-12	5.10	4.97	4.94
Jan-13	4.90	4.94	4.92
Feb-13	5.01	4.87	4.98
Mar-13	5.03	4.89	4.92
Apr-13	4.92	5.03	4.97
May-13	5.00	5.20	5.18
Jun-13	5.27	4.99	5.08
Jul-13	5.13	5.33	5.39
Aug-13	5.25	5.35	5.48
Sep-13	5.30	5.26	5.29
Oct-13	5.13	5.08	5.12
Nov-13	5.02	4.98	4.90
Dec-13	4.90	4.96	4.87
Jan-14	4.70	4.67	4.62
Feb-14	4.64	4.60	4.60
Mar-14	4.56	4.64	4.59
Apr-14	4.67	4.70	4.65
May-14	4.75	4.81	4.89
Jun-14	4.99	4.96	5.04
Jul-14	5.00	5.09	5.15
Aug-14	5.18	5.12	5.05
Sep-14	5.09	5.14	5.17
Oct-14	5.15	5.28	5.26
Nov-14	5.20	4.90	4.93
Dec-14	5.05	5.15	5.04
Jan-15	5.00	4.90	4.82
Feb-15	4.94	4.87	4.88
Mar-15	5.04	5.18	5.19
Apr-15	5.22	5.20	5.04
May-15	5.25	5.29	5.35
Jun-15	5.40	5.45	5.49
Jul-15	5.41	5.64	5.59
Aug-15	5.50	5.54	5.31
Sep-15	5.35	5.56	5.55
Oct-15	5.41	5.33	5.36
Nov-15	5.32	4.97	4.76
Dec-15	5.19	5.36	5.46
Jan-16	5.32	5.36	5.47
Feb-16	5.30	5.20	5.08
Mar-16	5.27	5.27	5.33
Apr-16	5.40	5.44	5.45
May-16	5.64	5.55	5.53
Jun-16	5.48	5.62	5.57
Jul-16	5.52	5.41	5.39
Aug-16	5.44	5.49	5.33
Sep-16	5.35	5.55	5.47
Oct-16	5.44	5.47	5.60
Nov-16	5.54	5.60	5.61
Dec-16	5.54	5.55	5.49
Jan-17	5.55	5.60	5.69
Feb-17	5.55	5.41	5.48
Mar-17	5.61	5.74	5.71
Apr-17	5.67	5.56	5.57
May-17	5.55	5.65	5.62
Jun-17	5.58	5.59	5.52
Jul-17	5.57	5.38	5.44
Aug-17	5.48	5.39	5.35
Sep-17	5.30	5.38	5.39
Oct-17	5.30	5.60	5.48
Nov-17	5.52	5.77	5.81
Dec-17	5.75	5.66	5.57
Jan-18	5.65	5.48	5.38
Feb-18	5.42	5.44	5.54
Mar-18	5.28	5.51	5.60
Apr-18	5.60	5.48	5.46
May-18	5.56	5.47	5.43
Jun-18	5.45	5.35	5.38
Jul-18	5.43	5.40	5.34
Aug-18	5.36	5.36	5.34
Sep-18	5.30	5.20	5.15
Oct-18	5.20	5.31	5.22
Nov-18	5.19	5.23	5.32
Dec-18	5.24	4.97	4.99
Jan-19	5.05	4.92	4.94
Feb-19	5.08	5.46	5.51
Mar-19	5.30	5.40	5.21
Apr-19	5.36	5.31	5.19
May-19	5.29	5.40	5.34
Jun-19	5.34	5.25	5.27
Jul-19	5.39	5.40	5.42
Aug-19	5.38	5.42	5.49
Sep-19	5.45	5.36	5.38
Oct-19	5.49	5.36	5.46
Nov-19	5.45	5.43	5.35
Dec-19	5.43	5.40	5.54
Jan-20	5.45	5.42	5.46
Feb-20	5.50	5.58	5.77
Mar-20	5.30	5.25	5.27
Apr-20	4.30	4.17	4.33
May-20	4.38	3.80	3.91
Jun-20	4.86	4.65	4.72
Jul-20	5.39	5.85	5.86
Aug-20	6.00	5.92	6.00
Sep-20	6.25	6.38	6.54
Oct-20	6.45	6.63	6.85
Nov-20	6.70	6.50	6.69
Dec-20	6.55	6.62	6.76
Jan-20	6.60	6.48	6.69
Feb-20	6.51	6.29	6.22
Mar-20	6.17	6.02	NA
¹NAR initially reported before revisions.

April 17th COVID-19 Vaccinations, New Cases, Hospitalizations

2021-04-17T19:29:00.000-04:00

Note: I'm looking forward to not posting this daily! I've been posting this data daily for over a year, and I'll stop once all three of these criteria are met:
1) 70% of the population over 18 has had at least one dose of vaccine,
2) new cases are under 5,000 per day, and
3) hospitalizations are below 3,000.

According to the CDC, 205.9 million doses have been administered. 31.8% of the population over 18 is fully vaccinated, and 49.7% of the population over 18 has had at least one dose (128.3 million people over 18 have had at least one dose).

And check out COVID Act Now to see how each state is doing.

Over 11,000 US deaths were reported so far in April due to COVID.

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the daily (columns) 7 day average (line) of positive tests reported.

Note: The ups and downs during the Winter surge were related to reporting delays due to the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

This data is from the CDC.

The 7-day average is 68509, down from 69182 yesterday, but above the summer surge peak of 67,337 on July 23, 2020.

The second graph shows the number of people hospitalized.

This data is also from the CDC.

The CDC cautions that due to reporting delays, the area in grey will probably increase.

The current 7-day average is 37,339, up from 37,246 reported yesterday, and well above the post-summer surge low of 23,000.

Schedule for Week of April 18, 2021

2021-04-17T08:11:00.002-04:00

The key reports this week are March New and Existing Home Sales.

For manufacturing, the April Kansas City manufacturing survey will be released.

----- Monday, Apr 19th -----
No major economic releases scheduled.

----- Tuesday, Apr 20th -----
No major economic releases scheduled.

----- Wednesday, Apr 21st -----
7:00 AM ET: The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the results for the mortgage purchase applications index.

During the day: The AIA's Architecture Billings Index for March (a leading indicator for commercial real estate).

----- Thursday, Apr 22nd -----
8:30 AM: The initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released. The consensus is for a increase to 625 thousand from 576 thousand last week.

8:30 AM ET: Chicago Fed National Activity Index for March. This is a composite index of other data.

10:00 AM: Existing Home Sales for March from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The consensus is for 6.17 million SAAR, down from 6.22 million.

The graph shows existing home sales from 1994 through the report last month.

Housing economist Tom Lawler expects the NAR to report sales of 6.02 million SAAR for March.

11:00 AM: the Kansas City Fed manufacturing survey for April.

----- Friday, Apr 23rd -----
10:00 AM: New Home Sales for March from the Census Bureau.

This graph shows New Home Sales since 1963. The dashed line is the sales rate for last month.

The consensus is for 885 thousand SAAR, up from 775 thousand in February.

Lawler: Early Read on Existing Home Sales in March

2021-04-16T16:25:00.000-04:00

From housing economist Tom Lawler:

Based on publicly-available local realtor/MLS reports released across the country through today, I project that existing home sales as estimated by the National Association of Realtors ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.02 million in March, down 3.2% from February’s preliminary pace but up 12.5% from last March’s seasonally adjusted pace.

Local realtor reports, as well as reports from national inventory trackers, suggest that the YOY decline in the inventory of existing homes for sale last month was greater than the big decline in February.

One moderately interesting thing to note is that most realtors that break out sales by type showed substantially larger YOY increases in condo sales than in SF detached sales.

Finally, local realtor/MLS data suggest that the median existing single-family home sales price last month was up by about 15.5% from last March.

CR Note: The National Association of Realtors (NAR) is scheduled to release March existing home sales on Thursday, April 22, 2021 at 10:00 AM ET. The consensus is for 6.17 million SAAR.

April 16th COVID-19 Vaccinations, New Cases, Hospitalizations; Over 200 Million Doses Administered

2021-04-16T15:48:00.000-04:00

Note: I'm looking forward to not posting this daily! I've been posting this data daily for over a year, and I'll stop once all three of these criteria are met:
1) 70% of the population over 18 has had at least one dose of vaccine,
2) new cases are under 5,000 per day, and
3) hospitalizations are below 3,000.

According to the CDC, 202.3 million doses have been administered. 31.1% of the population over 18 is fully vaccinated, and 49.1% of the population over 18 has had at least one dose (126.6 million people over 18 have had at least one dose).

And check out COVID Act Now to see how each state is doing.

Over 10,000 US deaths were reported so far in April due to COVID.

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the daily (columns) 7 day average (line) of positive tests reported.

Note: The ups and downs during the Winter surge were related to reporting delays due to the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

This data is from the CDC.

The 7-day average is 69,405, down from 69,577 yesterday, and above the summer surge peak of 67,337 on July 23, 2020.

The second graph shows the number of people hospitalized.

This data is also from the CDC.

The CDC cautions that due to reporting delays, the area in grey will probably increase.

The current 7-day average is 37,246, up from 37,125 reported yesterday, and well above the post-summer surge low of 23,000.

California March Housing: Sales up 20% YoY, Active Listings down 51% YoY

2021-04-16T12:41:00.000-04:00

The CAR reported: California median home price reaches new all-time high in March as nearly two-thirds of homes sell above asking price, C.A.R. reports

Fierce competition drove California’s median home price to reach a new record high in March, while the state’s housing market continued its momentum with sales remaining solid heading into the spring homebuying season, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.) said today.

Closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in California totaled a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 462,720 in February, according to information collected by C.A.R. from more than 90 local REALTOR® associations and MLSs statewide. The statewide annualized sales figure represents what would be the total number of homes sold during 2021 if sales maintained the February pace throughout the year. It is adjusted to account for seasonal factors that typically influence home sales.

Closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in California totaled a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 446,410 in March, according to information collected by C.A.R. from more than 90 local REALTOR® associations and MLSs statewide. The statewide annualized sales figure represents what would be the total number of homes sold during 2021 if sales maintained the March pace throughout the year. It is adjusted to account for seasonal factors that typically influence home sales.

March home sales decreased 3.5 percent from 462,720 in February and were up 19.7 percent from a year ago, when 373,070 homes were sold on an annualized basis. While still solid, the monthly sales decline was the third in a row, and the sales pace was the lowest since last July. The near-20 percent sales gain can be attributed partly to weak home sales a year ago as the Coronavirus outbreak abruptly halted the real estate market and economy.

“While intense homebuying interest is the engine that continues to drive housing demand, a shortage of homes for sales is the rocket fuel pushing prices higher across the state. A lack of homes for sale is creating unprecedented market competition, leading to a record share of homes selling above asking price in March,” said C.A.R. President Dave Walsh, vice president and manager of the Compass San Jose office. “With more of the state’s COVID-19 restrictions being lifted in the coming months as we move into the spring home buying season, we should see home sales improve as more prospective home sellers feel comfortable listing their homes for sale.”
...
The Unsold Inventory Index (UII) dropped to 1.6 months in March from 2.0 months in February and was down sharply from a year ago, when there was 2.7 months of housing inventory. The index indicates the number of months it would take to sell the supply of homes on the market at the current rate of sales.

Active listings fell 51.1 percent in March from last year — the third consecutive month that listings declined more than 50 percent. On a month-to-month basis, for-sale properties inched up by 5.3 percent in March and should climb further in the coming months as the market moves into the spring homebuying season, while the economy continues to improve.
emphasis added

CR Note: Existing home sales are reported when the transaction closes, so this was mostly for contracts signed in January and February.

Black Knight: Number of Homeowners in COVID-19-Related Forbearance Plans Decreased Slightly

2021-04-16T12:31:00.004-04:00

Note: Both Black Knight and the MBA (Mortgage Bankers Association) are putting out weekly estimates of mortgages in forbearance.

This data is as of April 13th.

From Black Knight: Forbearances Improve for Seventh Straight Week

The country saw a modest decrease in the number of active forbearance plans this week, falling by just 1,000 but still marking the seventh consecutive week of improvement.

This mid-month lull in improvement was expected – they’ve become commonplace during the recovery, with the strongest rates of improvement seen early and late in the month as mortgages are reviewed for extension/removal from forbearance. With 380,000 loans still slated for these reviews by the end of this month, we could still see additional forbearance improvement in late April/early May.

Click on graph for larger image.

Plan starts hit their highest level in three weeks, but this was primarily due to re-starts, as a portion of the nearly 500,000 homeowners who’d left forbearance in recent weeks likely reached out to their servicers to reinstate their plans. New plan starts remain near post-pandemic lows.

Despite the marginal improvement this week, the number of outstanding plans is still down by 296,000 (-11.4% month-over-month) marking considerable improvement in recent weeks. As of April 13, there are now 2.3 million homeowners in COVID-19-related forbearance plans, representing 4.4% of all mortgage-holders.

We’ll continue to monitor the situation, and will have another report published here next Friday, April 23.
emphasis added

The number of loans in forbearance continues to decline.

Q1 GDP Forecasts: Around 7%

2021-04-16T11:19:00.002-04:00

Note that the forecasts of the automated systems (based on released data), have caught up with the forecasts of economists, as data for March is released.

From Merrill Lynch:

Despite robust retail sales growth, it was less bullish than our forecast, resulting in a 0.5pp reduction to our 1Q GDP tracking estimate, to 6.5% qoq saar. [Apr 16 estimate]
emphasis added

From Goldman Sachs:

We left our Q1 GDP tracking estimate unchanged on a rounded basis at +7.5% (qoq ar). [Apr 16 estimate]

From the NY Fed Nowcasting Report

The New York Fed Staff Nowcast stands at 6.8% for 2021:Q1 and 4.4% for 2021:Q2. [Apr 16 estimate]

And from the Altanta Fed: GDPNow

The GDPNow model estimate for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the first quarter of 2021 is 8.3 percent on April 16, unchanged from April 15 after rounding. After this morning's housing starts report from the U.S. Census Bureau, the nowcast of first-quarter real residential investment growth decreased from 10.6 percent to 10.2 percent. [Apr 16 estimate]

Comments on March Housing Starts

2021-04-16T09:36:00.002-04:00

Earlier: Housing Starts increased to 1.739 Million Annual Rate in March

This was the highest level for starts since June 2006.

Total housing starts in March were above expectations, and starts in January and February were revised up. Single family starts increased in March, and were up 41% year-over-year (starts declined at the beginning of the pandemic).

The volatile multi-family sector is up year-over-year (apartments were under pressure from COVID).

The housing starts report showed total starts were up 19.4% in March compared to February, and total starts were up 37.0% year-over-year compared to March 2020.

Low mortgage rates and limited existing home inventory have given a boost to single family housing starts.

The first graph shows the month to month comparison for total starts between 2020 (blue) and 2021 (red).

Click on graph for larger image.

Starts were up 37.0% in March compared to March 2020. The year-over-year comparison will be easy again in April, May and June.

2020 was off to a strong start before the pandemic, and with low interest rates and little competing existing home inventory, starts finished 2020 strong. Starts have started 2021 strong (February was impacted by the harsh weather).

Below is an update to the graph comparing multi-family starts and completions. Since it usually takes over a year on average to complete a multi-family project, there is a lag between multi-family starts and completions. Completions are important because that is new supply added to the market, and starts are important because that is future new supply (units under construction is also important for employment).

These graphs use a 12 month rolling total for NSA starts and completions.

The blue line is for multifamily starts and the red line is for multifamily completions.

The rolling 12 month total for starts (blue line) increased steadily for several years following the great recession - then mostly moved sideways. Completions (red line) had lagged behind - then completions caught up with starts- then starts picked up a little again late last year, but have fallen off with the pandemic.

The last graph shows single family starts and completions. It usually only takes about 6 months between starting a single family home and completion - so the lines are much closer. The blue line is for single family starts and the red line is for single family completions.

Single family starts are getting back to more normal levels, but I still expect some further increases in single family starts and completions on a rolling 12 month basis - especially given the low level of existing home inventory.

Housing Starts increased to 1.739 Million Annual Rate in March

2021-04-16T08:39:00.002-04:00

From the Census Bureau: Permits, Starts and Completions

Housing Starts:
Privately-owned housing starts in March were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,739,000. This is 19.4 percent above the revised February estimate of 1,457,000 and is 37.0 percent above the March 2020 rate of 1,269,000. Single-family housing starts in March were at a rate of 1,238,000; this is 15.3 percen above the revised February figure of 1,074,000. The March rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 477,000.

Building Permits:
Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in March were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,766,000. This is 2.7 percent above the revised February rate of 1,720,000 and is 30.2 percent above the March 2020 rate of 1,356,000. Single-family authorizations in March were at a rate of 1,199,000; this is 4.6 percent (±1.9 percent) above the revised February figure of 1,146,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 508,000 in March.
emphasis added

Click on graph for larger image.

The first graph shows single and multi-family housing starts for the last several years.

Multi-family starts (red, 2+ units) increased in March compared to February. Multi-family starts were up 29% year-over-year in March.

Single-family starts (blue) increased in March, and were up 41% year-over-year (starts slumped at the beginning of the pandemic).

The second graph shows total and single unit starts since 1968.

The second graph shows the huge collapse following the housing bubble, and then the eventual recovery (but still not historically high).

Total housing starts in March were well above expectations, and starts in January and February were revised up.

I'll have more later …

Friday: Housing Starts

2021-04-15T21:00:00.001-04:00

Friday:
• At 8:30 AM ET, Housing Starts for March. The consensus is for 1.600 million SAAR, up from 1.421 million SAAR in February.

• At 10:00 AM, University of Michigan's Consumer sentiment index (Preliminary for April).

• Also at 10:00 AM, State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) for March 2021

April 15th COVID-19 Vaccinations, New Cases, Hospitalizations; Almost 200 Million Doses Administered

2021-04-15T16:44:00.001-04:00

Note: I'm looking forward to not posting this daily! I've been posting this data daily for over a year, and I'll stop once all three of these criteria are met:
1) 70% of the population over 18 has had at least one dose of vaccine,
2) new cases are under 5,000 per day, and
3) hospitalizations are below 3,000.

According to the CDC, 198.3 million doses have been administered. 30.3% of the population over 18 is fully vaccinated, and 48.3% of the population over 18 has had at least one dose (124.8 million people have had at least one dose).

And check out COVID Act Now to see how each state is doing.

Almost 9,500 US deaths were reported so far in April due to COVID.

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the daily (columns) 7 day average (line) of positive tests reported.

Note: The ups and downs during the Winter surge were related to reporting delays due to the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

This data is from the CDC.

The 7-day average is 69,577, down from 69,953 yesterday, and above the summer surge peak of 67,337 on July 23, 2020.

The second graph shows the number of people hospitalized.

This data is also from the CDC.

The CDC cautions that due to reporting delays, the area in grey will probably increase.

The current 7-day average is 37,125, up from 36,941 reported yesterday, and well above the post-summer surge low of 23,000.