All Things in Moderation

Vital Statistics:

Green on the screen this morning as Jerome Powell heads to Capitol Hill for Humprey-Hawkins testimony. Bonds and MBS are down.

Retail Sales came in way better than expected, rising 17.7% versus expectations of a 8% gain. Last month was revised from -16.4% to -14.7%. The control group, which excludes gas, autos, and building materials rose 11% versus expectations of a 4.7% increase.

Industrial production rose 1.4% in May, a little better than expected. Capacity Utilization rose to 64.8% and manufacturing output rose 3.8%.

Lennar reported second quarter earnings yesterday, with a 27% increase in earnings per share. Lennar is on a November fiscal year, so the quarter included both March and April, the worst months of the economic pandemic. That said, everything turned around in May, with CEO Stuart Miller saying this in the press release: “Business rebounded significantly in May, and by quarter’s end, our total new orders declined by only 10%, and deliveries ended flat year-over-year. In sync with the market rebound, we resumed starts and land spend to match the improving market conditions, and this rebound has continued into the first two weeks of June.” He also mentioned the effect COVID has had on demand: “While unemployment increased throughout the quarter due to impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, customers moved from rental apartments and from densely populated areas to purchase homes, and home sales grew steadily, as record-low interest rates and low inventory levels drove a favorable rebound in the homebuilding industry.” Finally, the company re-instituted its 2020 guidance.

The MBA reported that new home purchase applications increased 26% MOM in May and 11% on YOY basis. “The solid increase in new home purchase applications in May is another indication of a recovery in the housing market,” said Joel Kan, MBA Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting. “MBA estimates that new home sales rebounded 26 percent last month – a healthy turnaround after three months of declines. Homebuyer traffic is rising, and homebuilders are continuing to ramp up production following the COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions. We expect to see additional near-term strength in the coming months from the resumption of delayed sales activity caused by the social distancing and stay-at-home orders during March and April.”

The MBA reported that the share of mortgages in forbearance has leveled out at 8.55%. “Results from the first week of June showed a slight uptick in the overall share of loans in forbearance, but this increase was primarily driven by a larger share of portfolio and PLS loans in forbearance,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. “Half of the servicers in our sample saw the forbearance share decline for at least one investor category. Although there continues to be layoffs, the job market does appear to be improving, and this is likely leading to many borrowers in forbearance deciding to opt out of their plan.” Given the way the CARES Act was drafted, there was almost no penalty for taking forbearance, and it sounds like many took it pre-emptively. Ginnie loans was flat at 11.8%, while GSE loans came in at 6.4% and private label mortgages were 10.2%.

The housing market outside New York City is booming. Local builders are getting slammed with inquiries and are selling homes at a rapid pace. “People who are now in the Hudson Valley looking for homes, many of them have never been to the Hudson Valley before,” Mr. Petersheim said. “That’s new to the marketplace, that urgency.” I guess being cooped up for 3 months in an 800 square foot studio that costs 5 grand a month will wear on anyone.

Fed Head Robert Kaplan says the economy will experience a historic contraction before rebounding in the second half of the year. From the sound of it, the economy is already bouncing back.

I will be doing a podcast for the Information Management Network this morning. I will be discussing economics, housing, and the markets. I will leave a link once I get one.

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