Morning Report: Existing home sales fall

Posted on May 21, 2020 by Brent Nyitray

Vital Statistics:

 

Last Change
S&P futures 2963 -4.1
Oil (WTI) 34.54 1.19
10 year government bond yield 0.68%
30 year fixed rate mortgage 3.28%

 

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

 

Initial Jobless Claims came in at 2.4 million. which was a touch higher than expectations.

 

3.6 million Americans were past due on their April mortgage payment according to Black Knight Financial Services. This is the largest number since January 2015. Foreclosure starts and completions were at record lows due to government-imposed moratoriums. Miami, NYC and Las Vegas were the hardest hit cities. Note that sales in NYC are down 61%. I suspect we are going to see a mass exodus to the suburbs after this is over.

 

The Census Bureau estimates that almost half of all households has lost employment income during the pandemic. States that rely heaviest on tourism like Nevada and Hawaii saw close to 60%.

 

Existing home sales fell 18% in April, according to NAR. The median home price rose 7.4% YOY. Inventory was down 1.3% from March and down 19.7% from a year ago. “The economic lockdowns – occurring from mid-March through April in most states – have temporarily disrupted home sales,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “But the listings that are on the market are still attracting buyers and boosting home prices.”

 

The index of leading economic indicators came in at -4.4, better than expected, and an improvement from the March number.

Filed under: Economy, Morning Report | 101 Comments »

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