TheMReport — News and strategies for the evolving mortgage marketplace.
Issue link: http://digital.themreport.com/i/257884
54 | Th e M Rep o RT o r i g i nat i o n s e r v i c i n g a na ly t i c s s e c o n da r y M a r k e t ANALYTICS the latest Market Shifts to Scale Back Recovery A slowdown in home price gains signals the start of a new phase of recovery. t he housing market recovery is entering a new phase, according to the analysts at Capital Economics. They say the rapid bounce in home prices seen over 2013, which was driven by inves- tors and tight supply conditions, will soon start to moderate, and the next stage of the recovery will be characterized by strengthening activity among owner-occupants and mortgage-dependent buyers, as well as a much more moderate pace of house price inflation. Overall economic growth, on the other hand, will acceler- ate in 2014, according to Capital Economics, from around 1.8 percent in 2013 to 2.5 percent this year. The firm notes in its outlook report that monthly employment gains have already climbed back to the 200,000 mark. As the econ- omy's fiscal drag fades, it should more than offset the impact of rising long-term interest rates, the company's analysts contend. The Federal Reserve an- nounced in mid-December that it was to begin tapering its asset purchase program last month, but Capital Economics says any fur- ther increase in long-term interest rates that results will be "modest." After all, the Fed is trimming its monthly buys of mortgage securi- ties and Treasuries by just $10 billion. Officials strengthened the central bank's forward guidance to emphasize rates are not likely to rise for at least another couple of years. "And even if mortgage inter- est rates edge a little higher, the recovery in housing market activ- ity should also continue," Capital Economics said in its report. Higher mortgage interest rates have taken a toll on hous- ing market activity already, but further rate increases will see the recovery slow rather than reverse, its analysts stress. Sales activ- ity initially dropped when rates spiked, but the latest data suggest this was a period of adjustment rather than the start of a weaker trend, which fits with the fact that housing remains very affordable, they explain. "We envisage 30-year fixed mort- gage rates ending 2014 at 5 percent and 2015 at 5.5 percent," they shared in the report. There may ulti- mately be an upside to higher rates, according to Capital Economics' analysts. This upside would come in the form of a quicker loosening in mortgage credit conditions now that lenders cannot rely on the refinancing boom to boost their profits, they suggest. The supply of homes for sale is now increasing, Capital Economics notes in its report. In addition, rising prices and a reduction in negative equity are bringing will- ing sellers back to the market. Alongside a reduction in the num- ber of heavily discounted distressed homes for sale, the firm says this will drive a sea change in the composition of supply and trigger a loosening in overall market condi- tions as buyer demand increases. The rapid run-up in house prices means that housing afford- ability has deteriorated over the past few months. But even though valuation and affordability metrics are becoming less favorable, the overall picture is still that housing is a good value and "on the cheap side," the firm said in its report. The National Association of Realtors' (NAR) affordability index suggests that the typical U.S. household now has 166 percent of the income required to qualify for a mortgage on the typical home, down from 180 percent in Q 3 2013. This deterioration in mortgage affordability means that average mortgage costs are once again above average rental costs, which may deter some households from leav- ing the rental market for home- ownership, according to Capital Economics. Still, the firm noted that "[o]ther than the past four years, at no point during the 40-year history of the NAR figures has housing been as affordable as it is now." Similar conclusions hold in terms of housing valuations, Capital Economics explained, adding that the simplest valuation measure compares real house prices to their long-run trend level. On this basis, housing is 12 percent below fair value, according to the firm's ana- lysts. That figure is down from 21 percent below fair value two years ago, but the analysts say even now, prices still have room to increase before worries about overvaluation become pressing. A second method compares house prices to disposable incomes per capita, and it suggests that housing was 14 percent under- valued in Q 3. A third valuation measure paints a slightly different picture—the house price-to-rent ra- tio. On this measure, housing is at the fair-value mark. As the firm's analysts already noted, mortgage costs come in above average rental costs now. They say it looks like home prices will be up by 11 percent for 2013 as a whole. "We expect this year to mark the peak for house price gains and anticipate that price rises will slow to around 4 percent per annum in 2014 and thereafter," Capital Economics' analysts predicted.