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My take on the soft existing home sales numbers today


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2014 Mar 20, 7:38am   45,633 views  195 comments

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72   hrhjuliet   2014 Apr 4, 6:54am  

Thank you. I really appreciate your input; always intelligent and practical.

73   _   2014 Apr 6, 4:24am  

>

As you can see here, we clearly overbuilt for housing and the even new home sales and starts got impacted when housing inflation rose on both fronts

http://www.businessinsider.com/jpmorgans-q2-complete-guide-to-markets-2014-4#jp-morgan-funds-q2-guide-to-the-markets-16

74   _   2014 Apr 6, 4:33am  

Take all affordability indexes the media and financial companies like Zillow and the NAR promote with a grain of salt because they thesis is based on the fact that everyone has a 20% down payment. Comical with this cycle I know .... and yet they never add an * to their metrics

http://www.businessinsider.com/jpmorgans-q2-complete-guide-to-markets-2014-4#jp-morgan-funds-q2-guide-to-the-markets-18

75   _   2014 Apr 6, 11:34pm  

Hence rental nation, if this much can't create liquidity through liquid assets

76   _   2014 Apr 8, 12:51am  

Mind that census always counts delinquent homeowners as homeowners, so with 3 million loan still in delinquency and many in California still, these numbers need to have an * to it because it's slightly worse

77   bubblesitter   2014 Apr 8, 12:52am  

Come on, Logan, gives some hint on upcoming inventory situation!

78   _   2014 Apr 8, 1:07am  

bubblesitter says

Come on, Logan, gives some hint on upcoming inventory situation!

79   bubblesitter   2014 Apr 8, 1:15am  

Logan, good graph, but I have yet to see that inventory here in North OC.

80   _   2014 Apr 8, 4:10am  

bubblesitter says

North OC.

Lower end market would be lighter than the upper end areas in California in general. More transaction are higher end homes rather than lower end homes.

81   _   2014 Apr 8, 4:12am  

still for pure demand we need this chart to look a lot better

82   bubblesitter   2014 Apr 8, 4:17am  

Logan Mohtashami says

Lower end market would be lighter than the upper end areas in California in general. More transaction are higher end homes rather than lower end homes.

That simply amazes me. I can't think of logical explanation. It seems as though investors would be more interested in those low end market for rental purposes and high end would be move up or first time live-in buyers. Confused.

83   _   2014 Apr 8, 4:24am  

bubblesitter says

That simply amazes me

What I see once the Robo signing settlement was signed and California homeowners act law was put into motion the process of putting lower end homes into the market was simply just delayed because there is now a legal process on trying to make a loan modification work for these type of homeowners

84   bubblesitter   2014 Apr 8, 4:51am  

Logan Mohtashami says

there is now a legal process on trying to make a loan modification work for these type of homeowners

Won't it apply to both low and high end?

85   _   2014 Apr 8, 5:02am  

bubblesitter says

Won't it apply to both low and high end?

There more financial struggle is on the lower end side. If you remember the sub prime credit cycle it was the lower end scale of income that took on that massive amount of capacity debt that can't be own.

There are plenty of people in California who have no problem making their mortgage payments before, during and after the housing bubble. So the higher end homes that went to distress are small in nature but they are still out there. Now the lower end homes it's another story and that is why lower end sales home are down like over 40% because they simply aren't to market

86   _   2014 Apr 8, 11:29am  

The Professor says

Scary chart. How do we fix the transmission?

Pay better wages and get better income growth

One item to remember with this chart and many other economic charts. When you have constant bubble economics going, these highs in income and wealth aren't really supported by true supply and demand economics

So, even though home prices are back to mid 2004 levels median incomes aren't for the many factors in this cycle.

However, in world economy where

Globalization
Techonology
Debt
Demographics

Are 4 forces that are very strong can we really see income growth in areas where we don't have supply and pricing power.

We have tech boom ... that's a small workforce

Facebook 150 Billion Dollar Market Value only employs 5,000 people

JC Penny 2.7 Billion market cap employs 120K people

So the wealth is created in such few industries in terms of incomes and liquid asset wealth ( Stock Option)

Energy is a plus for us, we have that going for us and charts there are good to look at. So that is one area where we can expand and we have a decent jobs recently.

However, it's tough to fix this with those 4 items above.

Not to say everything is gloom and doom, but I believe naturally we are a 2-3% GDP country at best case nothing more than that and wage growth is going to weak in many sectors because those jobs.. the manual labor services just doesn't demand strong incomes

88   beershrine   2014 Apr 9, 9:41am  

Logan, You make some great points on the economic struggle, Maybe if government gets out of the .50 of every dollar we make earn and spend it might make a difference, do the math on it.
Thanks for your work...

89   _   2014 Apr 9, 9:46am  

beershrine says

government gets out of the

You're asking the impossible as in 10-13 years all mandatory payouts will exceed even the bullish government revenue estimates

http://t.co/8fsr5nIxgF

90   Miike   2014 Apr 9, 10:22am  

Hey Logan,

Can you specifically comment on what you see in the Anaheim Hills, Yorba Linda, Tustin markets? Specifically interested in inventory and prices and what your forecast for these areas in the next 6-12 months.

Thanks

91   _   2014 Apr 9, 10:38am  

Doing a transaction right now in North Tustin
Orange County inventory is up
Pricing is stable but really it all depends on the seller and asking price.
Some homes go right away and some just stay on the market for days. If you can't get an offer with in 30 days you're priced to high in this market.
Pricing should stay strong in that market place.
Cash buyers slowly leaving the O.C. Irvine has flooded the market with new homes and the Chinese will be picking those up. Had an agent said she has a Chinese cash buyer in Y.L. 2 weeks ago

Orange County is the same of So Cal market
- More inventory
- YOY sales will down
- Pricing have staying power though ( unrealistic sellers) getting a dose of reality

There shouldn't be a 1% rate spike like it was last year that slapped the market place around so those areas of the OC should be stable. However, I see a big difference from real sellers and sellers who are too aggressive on their pricing

92   _   2014 Apr 9, 1:58pm  

hanhvu02 says

Logan, do you think some day housing price will go down again - I know it will not be like 2009-2011.

A real drastic declines needs 2 things

1. A lot inventory 7-9 months on sale

2. Job loss recession to where you get distressed sales

- The people who are getting mortgages now do have the capacity to own the debt. So, unless they get some type of economic event to where they can't own the debt, they will be staying put. So, its back to a normal housing market where a recession is needed to get drastic home price declines.

- Investors especially looking for yield aren't going to flood the market place with there homes. However, some will look to take the capital gains but not looking for a lot inventory from them this year.

While ZIRP is in play and the 10 year yield is so low, there isn't a lot others places to park money for return. However, due the massive price gains you can see cash buyers aren't willing shell out the money like they have had before in terms of pure volume

93   Miike   2014 Apr 9, 2:07pm  

Logan Mohtashami says

Had an agent said she has a Chinese cash buyer in Y.L. 2 weeks ago

Funny you say that cuz it seems like there are TONS of chinese buying in YL right now. Had one co-worker tell me his neighborhood near black gold is ALL chinese. Went to look at new homes in that area and they had signs in chinese with all chinese sales people.
I was bored one day and looked at all the 1.3M and over homes that sold in YL last year. Majority were with some chinese buying agent. I know this isnt proof that these were all sold to chinese, but I suspect that many were.

94   _   2014 Apr 9, 2:12pm  

Miike says

Funny you say that cuz it seems like there are TONS of chinese buying in YL right now

Here in Irvine agents are making presentation in China for the homes here in Irvine. I believe 85% of the net new buyers in Irvine are Asian. I got that stat from the UCLA Anderson Economic conference last year. It's a different market for sure. My 2 bedroom condo with 4 attached neighbors is going for 585,000 and 1 bedroom 824Sq foot home below me went for $375,000 and got 2 offers in the first week.

95   bubblesitter   2014 Apr 10, 4:22am  

hanhvu02 says

and I believe something may happen when we have anything - not normal.

Crash.

96   _   2014 Apr 10, 4:34am  

hanhvu02 says

I believe something may happen when we have anything - not normal.

When I speak to economist this is what I say

Since April of 2012 home prices have gone up 15%-45% depending on where you live. Now in a good economy where incomes are rising and more people are working better pay jobs that would still be considered to be a high % increase

However, in this cycle, you have a lot jobs recovered low wage paying jobs, you have a parabolic chart on student loan debt, record amount of cash buyers, record low interest rates for a long period of time, and a housing bubble hangover on the inventory side rising prices way beyond the reality of this economic cycle.

"Blank Look or Blank Answers" their model is broken, they believe since demographic trends favorite housing that it assumes people will buy... well that didn't happen

97   exfatguy   2014 Apr 10, 4:40am  

The government may be corrupt, but they're not stupid. They have been smart enough to set up a system to where nothing they're involved with can crash.

When you need some extra money, just add a few extra zeroes to your bank balance. It's really that simple.

99   exfatguy   2014 Apr 10, 4:51am  

They can just "re-normalize" those numbers such that the 22% number goes back to 5%.

When you have a credit card with no limit and no penalty for never paying it back, you can charge forever.

100   hrhjuliet   2014 Apr 10, 5:48am  

Logan Mohtashami says

When I speak to economist this is what I say

Since April of 2012 home prices have gone up 15%-45% depending on where you live. Now in a good economy where incomes are rising and more people are working better pay jobs that would still be considered to be a high % increase

However, in this cycle, you have a lot jobs recovered low wage paying jobs, you have a parabolic chart on student loan debt, record amount of cash buyers, record low interest rates for a long period of time, and a housing bubble hangover on the inventory side rising prices way beyond the reality of this economic cycle.

"Blank Look or Blank Answers" their model is broken, they believe since demographic trends favorite housing that it assumes people will buy... well that didn't happen

Exactly.

101   _   2014 Apr 10, 5:50am  

102   exfatguy   2014 Apr 10, 5:53am  

The housing market is like beanie babies, in that everyone thinks they're rare and snaps them up at any price so as not to miss out on something that's sure to skyrocket in value as time goes on.

The only difference is that this time they're right.

103   _   2014 Apr 10, 7:30am  

Mandy Lifeboats says

Walking Dead! She's turned hardcore.

I had to use this against Joe from BusinessInsider because he always claims that unemployment claims and the stock market are a great correlation and today Claims got to it's best level in this cycle and the market tanked even with the dovish comments from the Fed yesterday. However, that is a different discussion than housing

104   hanera   2014 Apr 10, 7:53am  

Could it be something has changed that we have yet to understand?

105   _   2014 Apr 10, 7:54am  

hanera says

Could it be something has changed that we have yet to understand?

In regard to what?

106   hanera   2014 Apr 10, 8:02am  

In regards to increase in house prices. Could be sustainable. We just don't know the fundamental reasons.

107   _   2014 Apr 10, 8:08am  

hanera says

In regards to increase in house prices. Could be sustainable. We just don't know the fundamental reasons.

List of reasons why home prices are rising

- Economic cycle turned, jobs were being created and thus home buying cycle turned

- Interest rates got very below 5% since early 2011 and have stayed there

- Due to the fact that the FED has had ZIRP for so long and rates have been low for so low we have had a higher than normal cash buyer level in recent years 20-25% above normal trend. So that has helped the market in terms of demand

However, the biggest key is that inventory got so well below 6 months that the pricing power changes for the positive side and thus began the pricing cycle higher. Supply and demand, low inventory = prices are going to rise

but... 15%-45% is very unrealistic in 2 years where wage growth is running at 2% really. However, low inventory cash buyers and low rates will help demand and in a low inventory cycle give pricing power.

Plus we have to remember that we have millions of homes still delinquent and in distress more than twice as many as on sale inventory now. So with more conventional sales it just makes price cycle stronger even though there are millions of homes in trouble.

In certain states it takes 1000 days to foreclosure on a home.

108   _   2014 Apr 10, 8:16am  

Due to Demographics and the Great Recession Half the U.S. is getting some kind of government assistance

109   _   2014 Apr 11, 12:03am  

The Housing Nirvana Queen just cried Uncle this morning

Nick Timiraos @NickTimiraos
Zelman existing home sales forecasts: 2014 at 4.8M (vs earlier 5.4M); 2015 at at 4.9M (vs 5.7M); 2016 at 5.0M (vs 5.9M). 2013 was 5.09M.

Nick Timiraos @NickTimiraos
Ivy Zelman slashes existing home sales forecast: now -5% for 2014, vs earlier +6% forecast. New home sales forecasts unchanged.

Cancy Crush Four Horseman

110   toothfairy   2014 Apr 11, 1:58pm  

we've gone from everybody being able to buy a house to nobody being able to buy a house to actually needing a job and a down payment to buy one.

111   _   2014 Apr 13, 4:25am  

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