In This Issue…
Last Week in Review: Recent housing reports were disappointing, while inflation remains low.
Forecast for the Week: February ends on a busy note, with key reports on housing, consumer attitudes, U.S. economic growth and inflation.
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Last Week in Review
“I knew the record would stand until it was broken.” Yogi Berra. Record low temperatures have hit much of the nation, but that’s not the only chill in the air. [Read more…]
Housing Starts sizzled in December, rising 4.4 percent from November to 1.089 million annualized units, coming in above expectations. The rise in Housing Starts was the strongest annual pace in seven years and it was led by a jump in starts for single-family homes, which reached their highest level since early 2008.
Retail Sales plunged by 0.9 percent in December, the biggest decline in nearly a year as lower gas prices didn’t have the desired impact on consumer spending during the busy shopping season. November’s numbers were also revised lower. This news was a bit of a surprise, and not the best sign for our overall economic recovery. But one number doesn’t make a trend, so this will be an important report to watch in the coming months.On the inflation front, inflation at the wholesale level remained tamed in December while the Consumer Price Index showed its smallest gain in five years, mainly due to plunging oil prices. We are beginning to see disinflationary pressures, which is a slower rate of inflation over a shorter time period. While low inflation is Bond-friendly news (and also good for home loan rates, since they are tied to Mortgage Bonds), outright deflation is a sustained fall in prices. That is something we do not want to see because deflation also brings increased unemployment. Inflation is another key item to monitor as we move ahead into 2015.
Housing Starts for July surged by nearly 16 percent to an annual rate of 1.093 million, above expectations and up from the 945,000 in June. Building Permits, a sign of future construction, also came in above expectations while Existing Home Sales for July increased by 2.4 percent from June.
There was good news on the foreclosure front as research firm CoreLogic reported that completed foreclosures in October declined by 30 percent from those completed in October 2012. In addition, the foreclosure inventory declined by 28 percent this year while the rate of serious delinquency is at its lowest level since November 2008. RealtyTrac also reported that foreclosure inventory fell by 15 percent from October to November. This is good news for the housing industry, but with almost 900,000 properties across the nation still in foreclosure a level four times the normal the housing recovery still has more to go.
