US Housing Market Data Response New Home Sales (Jan 14.) The strong rise in new home sales in January means that the recovery in housing market activity looks to be back on track. There is considerable scope for new home sales to rise further in 2014. 26th February 2014 · 1 min read
Nordic & Swiss Economics Update Danish mortgage market set to weather regulatory storm Denmark’s mortgage-bond market, the third largest covered bond market in the world, looks set to avoid a painful regulatory overhaul that might have weighed on the country’s recovery. 26th February 2014 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Data Response Case-Shiller Home Prices (Q4) House prices rose by a strong 11.4% during 2013 as a whole. However, prices are a lagging indicator of the health of the housing market. The more recent weakness of home sales will weigh on price... 25th February 2014 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Update What impact will the Mortgage Market Review have on lending? The weight of evidence suggests that most mortgage lenders are already implementing the Mortgage Market Review regulations, so we doubt mortgage lending will see a sharp drop come 26th April. But the... 25th February 2014 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Data Response BBA Mortgage Lending (Jan.) The recovery in the mortgage market continued into 2014, with the largest month-on-month rise in approvals for house purchase since September. Mortgage approvals will see further gains over this year... 25th February 2014 · 1 min read
US Economics Weekly Is the housing recovery crumbling? Most of the recent weakness in housing activity is due to the unusually bad weather rather than the lagged effects of last year’s rise in mortgage rates. While higher mortgage rates have clearly taken... 24th February 2014 · 1 min read
China Economics Update Would Hong Kong benefit from higher interest rates? Concerns are mounting that higher interest rates in the US could cause Hong Kong’s economy to slow sharply. With growth picking up and with little slack in the labour market, tighter monetary policy... 21st February 2014 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Data Response Mortgage Delinquencies (Q4 13) Among the recent weather-hit housing market activity data, the further improvement in the mortgage delinquency and foreclosure picture is a timely reminder that the fundamentals of the housing market... 20th February 2014 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Update How quickly can housebuilding return to pre-crisis levels? Housing starts are growing rapidly on the back of an improving economy and the Help to Buy scheme. But with builders already facing material and labour shortages, and the demand for new homes partly... 20th February 2014 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Data Response Housing Starts (Jan. 14) The sharp fall in housing starts in January looks like further payback following November’s surge, combined with weather-related disruption. So while 2014 has got off to an unpromising beginning, we... 19th February 2014 · 1 min read
Canada Economics Weekly Housing starts likely to fall further this year Although housing starts have declined over the past two years, the current six-month annualised trend of 191,456 units is arguably still above demographic requirements. With weakening home sales and... 17th February 2014 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Update What measure of earnings should be compared to house prices? If the share of homes bought using the joint income of a two-earner household has trended up over time, it is possible that a measure of the house price-to earnings ratio that uses average individual... 17th February 2014 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Update Will mortgage demand recover this year? Mortgage demand is struggling to shake off the impact of last year’s jump in mortgage interest rates. But providing that the wider economic and labour market recovery remain on track, we see no reason... 14th February 2014 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Chart Pack Pending home sales tumble again The recovery in housing market activity has taken a knock. Existing home sales edged up in December, but the pending home sales index recorded a worrying slump. New home sales fell substantially in... 13th February 2014 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Data Response RICS Residential Market Survey (Jan. 13) The January RICS survey provides some tentative evidence that housing market activity is no longer accelerating. But with housing market conditions still very tight, house prices will see further... 13th February 2014 · 1 min read
Canada Data Response Teranet-National Bank House Prices (Jan.) January's pick-up in house price inflation isn't that surprising when you consider last year's home buying rush that was triggered by fears of rising mortgage rates. Now that home sales are dropping... 12th February 2014 · 1 min read
