Hoot of the Day: Economists Expected Pending Home Sales to Rise

Pending home sales outlook from Bloomberg Econoday

Consensus Outlook

Bloomberg Econoday reports “After three straight sharp and unexpected declines, pending home sales in February are expected to rebound 0.9 percent.”

A pending sale is one in which a contract was signed, but not yet closed. It usually takes four to six weeks to close a contracted sale. 

Existing home sales are reported at closing but new home sales are recorded at signing. 

Mortgage Rates

30-year mortgage rates courtesy of Mortgage News Daily

Mystery

With mortgage rates soaring, it’s a mystery why economists would expect sales to be rising. 

Sales fell 4.1% in a range of -3.0% to +1.5%. Not a single economist got this right.

Bonus Hoot

Bloomberg reports Fed’s Williams Says a Half-Point Hike on the Table If Needed.

“If it’s appropriate to raise interest rates by 50 basis points at a meeting, then I would think that we should do that. If it’s appropriate to do 25, then we should do that,” Williams said Friday during a virtual panel hosted by the Central Reserve Bank of Peru and Bank for International Settlements. “I don’t see any reason not to do one or the other, it’s just we need to make the right decisions based on what we’re seeing in the economy.”

This post originated at MishTalk.Com.

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Six000mileyear
Six000mileyear
2 years ago
As inflation accelerates, I would expect investors to buy fewer shares or start to sell before homeowners with no stocks put their homes up for sale. A market reversal doesn’t take much when leveraged positions and home ownership rates are near historic levels.
KyleW
KyleW
2 years ago
When I heard the Fed was going to stop buying MBS in March I figured the real estate market bubble would be crashing pretty soon. Private lenders aren’t going to make 30-year loans at 3%. Rates go up, payments go up, housing demand collapses.
thimk
thimk
2 years ago
quintessential American exceptionalism . Time to review post WWII civil service anouncements ? “duck and cover” to wit :
thimk
thimk
2 years ago
Reply to  thimk
submitted on incorrect post see:
Dean_70
Dean_70
2 years ago
At this price level they would have to drop mortgage rates below 2.75% to increase sales. Winning the lotto may be more probable.
This is the blow-off top in prices. Prices will go sideways through the spring and early summer then start the long downturn. It will be a slow downturn into fall then gain momentum as investors struggle to generate positive cash flow and inventory quickly expands. There is a high probability of a housing crash after the November election.
thimk
thimk
2 years ago
Reply to  Dean_70
yes 6.3 months of inventory and ticking up . retail primary home buyers priced out , investment bunch can’t lever up , all cash cohort maybe left the building .
Dean_70
Dean_70
2 years ago
Reply to  thimk
Rates spiked big time again today. Up to 4.95% now.
KidHorn
KidHorn
2 years ago
Just the beginning.
Jackula
Jackula
2 years ago
Laughable, I have this bad feeling we are about to see the biggest debt unwind we’ve seen in our lifetimes. When rich people lose a lot of money they get dangerous, and when poor people are starving…

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