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Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: Inflation Adjusted House Prices 1.1% Below 2022 Peak It has been over 18 years since the housing bubble peak. In the November Case-Shiller house price index released yesterday, the seasonally adjusted National Index (SA), was reported as being 77% above the bubble peak in 2006. However, in real terms, the National index (SA) is about 12% above the bubble peak (and historically there has been an upward slope to real house prices). The composite 20, in real terms, is 3% above the bubble peak. The second graph shows the same two indexes in real terms (adjusted for inflation using CPI). House Prices: 7 Years in Purgatory) There is much more in the article!
4 days ago

More from Calculated Risk

Update: Lumber Prices Up 6% YoY

This might be something to watch again. Here is another monthly update on lumber prices. SPECIAL NOTE: The CME group discontinued the Random Length Lumber Futures contract on May 16, 2023.  I switched to a physically-delivered Lumber Futures contract that was started in August 2022.  Unfortunately, this impacts long term price comparisons since the new contract was priced about 24% higher than the old random length contract for the period when both contracts were available. On January 31, 2025, LBR was at $592.50 per 1000 board feet, up 6.4% from a year ago. Click on graph for larger image. There is somewhat of a seasonal demand for lumber, and lumber prices frequently peak in the first half of the year. But we might see an increase due to the tariffs on Canada.

6 hours ago 2 votes
Real Estate Newsletter Articles this Week: New Home Sales Increase to 698,000 Annual Rate in December

At the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter this week: Click on graph for larger image. New Home Sales Increase to 698,000 Annual Rate in December Case-Shiller: National House Price Index Up 3.8% year-over-year in November Inflation Adjusted House Prices 1.1% Below 2022 Peak Freddie Mac House Price Index Increased in December; Up 4.0% Year-over-year Final Look at Local Housing Markets in December and a Look Ahead to January Sales

9 hours ago 2 votes
Schedule for Week of February 2, 2025

The key reports scheduled for this week are the January employment report and the December trade deficit​. ----- Monday, February 3rd ----- 10:00 AM: ISM Manufacturing Index for January. The consensus is for the ISM to be at 49.5, up from 49.3 in December. 10:00 AM: Construction Spending for December. The consensus is for a 0.1% increase in construction spending. All day: Light vehicle sales for January. Sales were at 16.8 million in December (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate). Wards expects vehicle sales to decrease to 15.6 million SAAR in January. Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices (SLOOS). ----- Tuesday, February 4th ----- 10:00 AM ET: Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for December from the BLS. ----- Wednesday, February 5th ----- 7:00 AM ET: The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the mortgage purchase applications index. ADP Employment Report for January. This report is for private payrolls only (no government). The consensus is for 150,000 payroll jobs added in January, up from 122,000 added in December. 8:30 AM: Trade Balance report for December from the Census Bureau. ISM Services Index for January. Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices (SLOOS). ----- Thursday, February 6th ----- 8:30 AM: The initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released. The consensus is for a increase to 214 thousand from 207 thousand last week. ----- Friday, February 7th ----- 8:30 AM: Employment Report for December.   The consensus is for 170,000 jobs added, and for the unemployment rate to be unchanged at 4.1%. University of Michigan's Consumer sentiment index (Preliminary for January).

15 hours ago 2 votes
January 31st COVID Update: COVID in Wastewater Increasing

Note: Mortgage rates are from MortgageNewsDaily.com and are for top tier scenarios. For deaths, I'm currently using 4 weeks ago for "now", since the most recent three weeks will be revised significantly. Note: "Effective May 1, 2024, hospitals are no longer required to report COVID-19 hospital admissions, hospital capacity, or hospital occupancy data."  So I'm no longer tracking hospitalizations. COVID Metrics  NowWeek AgoGoal Deaths per Week🚩773628≤3501 1my goals to stop weekly posts. 🚩 Increasing number weekly for Deaths. ✅ Goal met. Click on graph for larger image. This graph shows the weekly (columns) number of deaths reported since Jan 2023. Although weekly deaths met the original goal to stop posting, I'm continuing to post now that deaths are above the goal again - and at a minimum, I'll continue to post through the Winter.   Weekly deaths have been increasing, and weekly deaths are well above the low of 313 in early June 2024. And here is a graph I'm following concerning COVID in wastewater as of January 30th: This appears to be a leading indicator for COVID hospitalizations and deaths. Nationally COVID in wastewater is "High" according to the CDC.

yesterday 3 votes
Initial Q1 GDP Tracking: Mid-to-high 2% Range

From Goldman: We launched our Q1 GDP tracking estimate at +2.6% (quarter-over-quarter annualized) and our Q1 domestic final sales estimate at +2.3%. We launched our past-quarter GDP tracking estimate at +2.3%, in line with the advance reading. [Jan 31st estimate] emphasis added And from the Atlanta Fed: GDPNow The initial GDPNow model estimate for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the first quarter of 2025 is 2.9 percent on January 31. The initial estimate of last quarter's real GDP growth rate released by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis on January 30 was 2.3 percent, the same as the final GDPNow model nowcast after rounding. [Jan 31st estimate]

2 days ago 2 votes

More in finance

Schedule for Week of February 2, 2025

The key reports scheduled for this week are the January employment report and the December trade deficit​. ----- Monday, February 3rd ----- 10:00 AM: ISM Manufacturing Index for January. The consensus is for the ISM to be at 49.5, up from 49.3 in December. 10:00 AM: Construction Spending for December. The consensus is for a 0.1% increase in construction spending. All day: Light vehicle sales for January. Sales were at 16.8 million in December (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate). Wards expects vehicle sales to decrease to 15.6 million SAAR in January. Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices (SLOOS). ----- Tuesday, February 4th ----- 10:00 AM ET: Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for December from the BLS. ----- Wednesday, February 5th ----- 7:00 AM ET: The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the mortgage purchase applications index. ADP Employment Report for January. This report is for private payrolls only (no government). The consensus is for 150,000 payroll jobs added in January, up from 122,000 added in December. 8:30 AM: Trade Balance report for December from the Census Bureau. ISM Services Index for January. Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices (SLOOS). ----- Thursday, February 6th ----- 8:30 AM: The initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released. The consensus is for a increase to 214 thousand from 207 thousand last week. ----- Friday, February 7th ----- 8:30 AM: Employment Report for December.   The consensus is for 170,000 jobs added, and for the unemployment rate to be unchanged at 4.1%. University of Michigan's Consumer sentiment index (Preliminary for January).

15 hours ago 2 votes
Longreads + Open Thread

Radio, Startups, History, Bally's, Dead Internet, Caesars

11 hours ago 2 votes
The Gambling King

The start of the Asian Conglomerates Series: we open with a look at the life of Stanley Ho, gambling king of Macau.

an hour ago 1 votes
January 31st COVID Update: COVID in Wastewater Increasing

Note: Mortgage rates are from MortgageNewsDaily.com and are for top tier scenarios. For deaths, I'm currently using 4 weeks ago for "now", since the most recent three weeks will be revised significantly. Note: "Effective May 1, 2024, hospitals are no longer required to report COVID-19 hospital admissions, hospital capacity, or hospital occupancy data."  So I'm no longer tracking hospitalizations. COVID Metrics  NowWeek AgoGoal Deaths per Week🚩773628≤3501 1my goals to stop weekly posts. 🚩 Increasing number weekly for Deaths. ✅ Goal met. Click on graph for larger image. This graph shows the weekly (columns) number of deaths reported since Jan 2023. Although weekly deaths met the original goal to stop posting, I'm continuing to post now that deaths are above the goal again - and at a minimum, I'll continue to post through the Winter.   Weekly deaths have been increasing, and weekly deaths are well above the low of 313 in early June 2024. And here is a graph I'm following concerning COVID in wastewater as of January 30th: This appears to be a leading indicator for COVID hospitalizations and deaths. Nationally COVID in wastewater is "High" according to the CDC.

yesterday 3 votes
OpenAI Launches o3-mini: A Faster, More Affordable AI Reasoning Model

OpenAI has just unveiled o3-mini, the latest addition to its "reasoning" model family.

2 days ago 2 votes