Freddie Mac is expecting housing starts to increase enough that new home sales will take over the market in 2018, becoming the “primary driver” of next year’s home sales. As of now, “the economic environment remains favorable for housing and mortgage markets.” Even with the expected rise in mortgage interest rates to come, housing looks good. And rates won’t rise enough to deter the serious homebuyer. As for the increase in new homes, this should help reduce the pace of rising home prices.
Initial Jobless Claims for last week reported at 259K, greatly missing expectations of 303K claims—that’s a good thing, the lower the number the better. However, let’s note that this figure could be slightly skewed from the recent disasters.
The FHFA (Federal Housing Finance Agency) Housing Price Index released this morning for July rose 0.2%, barely missing expectations.
According to recent research, teenagers today are less likely to engage in adult activities like drinking alcohol, working, driving, or having sex, and this is consistent across demographic groups. The article proposed the idea of social media and the smartphone leading to unhappy teenagers who are maturing at a slower pace—lack of drive. It will be interesting to see how this translates to homeownership and employment in the future.
The Hall Way 