US Housing Market Update Next refinancing boom won’t be as big as the last The recent decline in mortgage interest rates will trigger a refinancing boom that will span the first half of 2015. But it will be more modest than the one in 2012, and the benefits in terms of lower... 29th January 2015 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Update What next for mortgage interest rates? The decline in long-term Treasury yields almost certainly means that 30-year mortgage interest rates have further to fall and that any subsequent rises will be more gradual than we previously... 20th January 2015 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Update How will lower oil prices affect housing? If production and employment are scaled back, housing markets in some oil-producing States, which have recently been among the most buoyant, could potentially suffer. But any drag that this may... 12th January 2015 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Update How good is the outlook for residential rents? Over the past three years the surge in average house prices has dwarfed the rise in rents. However, over the next few years, those patterns look set to go into reverse, with rents likely to rise at an... 11th December 2014 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Update Valuation picture weighing on housing market confidence We are not convinced that September’s drop in realtor confidence will herald another large dip in home sales. But it is another reminder that housing valuations are starting to become a drag, rather... 6th November 2014 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Update Higher mortgage fees don’t point to future mortgage stress Mortgage fees and charges, whether guarantee fees, mortgage insurance premiums or origination points, have increased in recent years. But fees are not weighing significantly on buyer demand and do not... 16th October 2014 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Update How significant is the new Case-Shiller house price index? The new Case-Shiller house price index improves on its predecessors by giving a monthly read on nationa l house prices. The historical revisions suggest that the housing bust was not as deep as... 11th September 2014 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Update What next for house prices? The house price slowdown that we have long-expected picked up a gear in recent months, suggesting that our forecast for house price inflation to slow to 4% next year is on track . 28th August 2014 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Update Prime mortgage credit loosening despite new lending rules Mortgage credit conditions are loosening once again and the demand for mortgages is strengthening. Moreover, this is despite the introduction of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau’s ability-to... 14th August 2014 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Update What is happening to mortgage lending? The value of banks’ outstanding residential mortgage lending is rising but the number of new loans remains static. This divergence is explained by a sharp rise in the value of the typical mortgage... 31st July 2014 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Update Survey evidence sheds light on homebuilder labour shortages Homebuilders are encountering shortages of skilled labour in the carpentry and framing trades required early in the homebuilding process. These shortages are leading to higher new build house prices... 16th July 2014 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Update Slowing secondary house prices indices point the way The modest rate of house price appreciation on some secondary measures stems from the fact that they exclude foreclosures and distressed sales. The Case-Shiller and CoreLogic indices, by contrast, are... 3rd July 2014 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Update Is mortgage lending at a turning point? Tentative signs that rising house prices are increasing the ability of many households to meet minimum deposit criteria increase the chances that the most recent jump in mortgage applications might... 13th June 2014 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Update Positive signs on home sales and mortgage lending Fed Chair Janet Yellen expressed worries about the resilience of the housing recovery in her testimony to Congress last week. But the recent sales and mortgage lending figures have been more... 12th May 2014 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Update Too early to call the end of the housing recovery It is too early to take the weakening in activity as evidence that the housing recovery is over. The soft numbers could plausibly be the result of the temporary slowdown in job growth, the recent... 24th April 2014 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Update Lower jumbo-conforming spread a positive for mortgage lending The unprecedented negative spread between jumbo and conforming mortgage interest rates did not last for long. But the normalisation of the gap between jumbo and conforming rates marks an important... 11th April 2014 · 1 min read
