US Housing Market Update Lumber prices don’t undermine case for construction recovery The lack of a significant rise in lumber prices does not suggest that the nascent improvement in housing starts will soon fizzle out. The volume of lumber being transported by railroad has a much... 13th April 2012 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Chart Pack Borrowers making larger loan applications The $20,000 increase in the average loan size that mortgage applicants are seeking from lenders over the past three months may be an early sign that buyer confidence is improving. This should provide... 11th April 2012 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Focus Why Brazil's property boom looks like a bubble There are several reasons why we would have expected to have seen a sharp rise in Brazilian house prices over the past five years. But even so the sheer scale of the recent jump in prices is difficult... 11th April 2012 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Outlook Another difficult year for the housing market Falling economic output, rising unemployment and fragile consumer confidence will all do their bit to undermine house prices this year. But while housing is still overvalued, low interest rates and... 11th April 2012 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Data Response RICS Housing Market Survey (Mar.) Surveyors are reporting that supply and demand are in balance and that the pace of house price falls is moderating. Yet once the temporary boost to housing activity from the stamp duty holiday fades... 10th April 2012 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Focus Are mortgage lending standards easing? There’s no doubt that mortgage lending standards remain tight. But there are some tentative signs that banks might be becoming a bit more willing to lend. This is a crucial development that will... 5th April 2012 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Data Response CoreLogic House Prices (Feb.) Coming hot on the heels of the slightly more encouraging mortgage applications numbers released this morning, the small rise in the CoreLogic measure of house prices in February is another sign that... 4th April 2012 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Data Response Mortgage Applications (Mar.) It’s too early to conclude that March’s increase in mortgage applications for home purchase is the start of an upward trend. But the sharp rise in average loan size certainly seems consistent with an... 4th April 2012 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Halifax House Prices (Mar.) The sharp rise in the Halifax house price index in March simply reverses the dip seen since last July. Therefore, it does little to alter the picture of a housing market that remains very weak. 4th April 2012 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Chart Pack Mortgage credit conditions tighten again Given that the stamp duty-driven boost to activity seems to have had little material impact on house prices, its reversal is not obviously a cause for concern. But the same cannot be said of the... 3rd April 2012 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Update Principal reductions useful, but no silver bullet Principal reductions on mortgages held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would herald a policy initiative that directly addresses one of the biggest problems facing the housing market. It won’t solve the... 30th March 2012 · 1 min read
UK Housing Market Data Response Mortgage Lending & Credit Conditions (Feb/Q1) February’s sharp drop in mortgage approvals was no doubt partly driven by the end of the stamp duty holiday last weekend. But the fact that banks tightened credit scoring criteria in the first quarter... 29th March 2012 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Approvals, M4, Credit Conditions & Productivity The overall message from today’s data was that weak bank lending is likely to remain a significant constraint on the economic recovery. 29th March 2012 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Nationwide House Prices (Mar.) The Nationwide house price index recorded its largest drop in two years in March, suggesting that our forecast of a 5% drop during 2012 remains on track. 29th March 2012 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Data Response Case-Shiller House Prices (Jan.) The stabilisation in Case-Shiller house prices in January adds to other evidence that the housing market is on the mend. We expect that 2012 will go down in history as the year that the most severe... 27th March 2012 · 1 min read
US Housing Market Data Response New Home Sales (Feb.) The further fall in new home sales in February was probably driven by the unwinding of the boost to sales activity from the recent unseasonably warm weather. We expect continued employment growth and... 23rd March 2012 · 1 min read
