All Things in Moderation

Vital Statistics:

Stocks are flattish this morning on no real news. Bonds and MBS are up.

Mortgage applications fell 3.2% last week as purchases fell 2.3% and refis fell 4.3%.  It has been a long, cold winter for the origination business over the past 6 quarters or so. You can look at the chart of the MBA mortgage application index to get an idea of just how tough it is out there right now.

Home prices rose 0.4% MOM and 5.6% YOY in September, according to the CoreLogic home price index. Prices rose the least in the hottest markets, as affordability issues bite. CoreLogic did a study of Millennial attitudes, and less than half think they would qualify for a mortgage, which is interesting given that FHA and GSE low down payment programs are targeted towards the first time homebuyer and are very forgiving in terms of FICO and downpayments. The industry can benefit from doing some education here.

30 day delinquencies fell 0.6 percentage points to 4% in August. The foreclosure rate fell 0.1% to 0.5%.  DQs are at the lowest level in 12 years. CoreLogic estimates that 1/3 of all MSAs are overvalued. Unfortunately, not all MSAs are created equal – there are a lot more people in the overvalued MSAs like San Francisco and Washington DC than there are in the some of the undervalued MSAs in the Midwest and Northeast. The overvalued MSAs will be most vulnerable to economic shocks.

Oil has been in a downward spiral, hitting the lowest levels in a year on fears of oversupply. It sounds like the hedge funds, CTAs and speccies have been long and wrong and are now capitulating. Note that commodity prices are often the canary in the coal mine with respect to global growth, and other cyclical commodities like lumber and copper are following suit.

Goldman sees unemployment falling to 3% within the next 18 months or so.  Goldman also sees another 125 basis points in Fed hikes during this cycle.

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