By LAWRENCE YUN
Chief Economist
National Association of Realtors Research
January home sales were down, no doubt due to worsening economic conditions. Job losses have accelerated, household wealth from home values and stock markets has tumbled, and consumer confidence was dismally low. In addition, with so much discussion about the stimulus package since the November election, some serious buyers have been holding back for clarity and certainty regarding the stimulus package before acting.
Now that the stimulus package is passed, home sales, perhaps, will begin to turn around. We are very pleased with the housing stimulus measure of the up to $8,000 home buyer tax credit for first-time buyers. This clean tax credit (without the need to repay) can lift home sales by 300,000 before it expires in December 1st. The additional sales to first-time buyers will also trigger a chain reaction of trade-up and trade-down buyers. Further-more, the restoration of a higher conforming loan limit means that more people can have access to low mortgage rates. The greater use of TARP funds for TALF operations will also help to keep mortgage rates at historically favorably levels. These policy measures – now certain – should bring buyers to the market.
Inventories generally increase in January after the holiday the season, but they declined 2.7 percent to 3.6 million from 3.7 million in December. The pace of new fresh listings has been dropping, so even with a decline in sales pace, the total listings on the market fell in January. De-spite fewer homes on the market, the lower sales activity pushed up the months’ supply to 9.6 months. But the 3.6 million homes for sale is the lowest inventory count in two years. Foreclosure moratoriums in several states and by several major lenders may have contributed to the decline in addition to sales consistently being higher than the new fresh listings showing up on the market since the peak inventory at 4.6 million in July of 2008.
As far as home prices rising, that will likely take longer. The current home price is the lowest since March 2003, but we should careful in reading the data. The high prevalence of dis-tressed home sales and of those in the lower price range has skewed the median price mark-edly lower than under normal market conditions. Distressed sales, as defined as foreclosed properties or those re-quiring lender mediated short sales, account for about 45 percent of all sales. The inventory of distressed properties is much lower — about 25 percent of listings. This indicates that buyers are fighting over deeply dis-counted prices associated with distressed properties. Our internal preliminary analysis suggests that non-distressed properties are holding their value much better. In either case, however, prices and interest rates are reasonable, and housing opportunities have become quite attractive.
While most of the media chatter has been about the provisions in the stimulus package, there is another issue on the table. There is a proposal to limit mortgage interest deduction among very high income households, supposedly in order to raise tax revenue and reduce the size of the budget deficit. NAR’s position is that this is a wrong-headed policy that will worsen the U.S. economy and thereby lower U.S. tax revenue. Falling home prices beyond the levels that can be justified will lead to con-sumer spending contraction, rising foreclosures, rising re-default rates on modified loans, and further destruction in the bank balance sheet. Neither the stock market nor the economy can recover in a sustainable way without home price stabilization.
Any changes to mortgage interest deduction will apply more pressure for home prices to fall.
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