Rising Existing-Home Sales Not Enough

WASHINGTON (October 20, 2017) — After three straight monthly declines, existing-home sales slightly reversed course in September, but ongoing supply shortages and recent hurricanes muted overall activity and caused sales to fall back on an annual basis, reports the National Association of Realtors.

There aren’t enough homes for sale, in other words, at a time when many more homes are needed.  The inventory for sale is down to 4.2 months’ supply at the current sales rate. How will all the homes lost in the hurricanes and California wild fires be replaced with such low inventories?

It will take massive help from governments and disaster relief agencies, for starters. The U.S. House has voted $51.8 billion in relief aid to date that the Senate will also have to approve; much of it for replacement housing. But that means mobile homes providing immediate shelter from the approaching winter, as happened in New Orleans with Hurricane Katrina.

It will take much longer to replace those homes destroyed. The ongoing California wildfires have destroyed more than 6,000 homes in Northern California, which is more than half the average total of new homes built in California during ordinary years. And 185,149 homes are estimated to be damaged or destroyed just by Harvey, according to recent data from the Texas Division of Emergency Management.

This will certainly boost the construction industry. But construction also is suffering from a shortage of workers. And affordability is now a problem slowing sales, as housing prices have risen faster than incomes due to the current housing shortage.

Graph: Econoday

Total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, rose 0.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.39 million in September from 5.35 million in August. Last month's sales pace is 1.5 percent below a year ago but is the second slowest over the past year (behind August).

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says closings mustered a meager gain in September, but declined on an annual basis for the first time in over a year (July 2016; 2.2 percent). “Home sales in recent months remain at their lowest level of the year and are unable to break through, despite considerable buyer interest in most parts of the country,” he said. “Realtors® this fall continue to say the primary impediments stifling sales growth are the same as they have been all year: not enough listings – especially at the lower end of the market – and fast-rising prices that are straining the budgets of prospective buyers.”

Bottom line is that U.S. and state economies will be given a massive boost by the recent disasters. We can really call it a new, New Deal, since governments will have to approve massive spending bills to rebuild as if it were wartime. Much of that spending has to be for modernizing our infrastructure—which includes all the roads, bridges, water systems, and electrical grids destroyed.

And don’t forget the replacement housing needed. We see such spending can and will prolong this recovery another one or two years. Since such massive spending will require bipartisan support, maybe politics can be thrown out the window this time.

Harlan Green © 2017

Follow Harlan Green on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarlanGreen

Investment, Factory Orders Rising After Hurricanes

Popular Economics Weekly

The US Dollar’s decline against foreign currencies, mostly due to geopolitical worries such as N. Korea’s nuclear intentions, is already helping the manufacturing sector with a sharp rise in factory orders. This will be aided by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma’s boost in capital expenditures as major infrastructure upgrades will be necessary.

Any infrastructure improvements—such as roads, bridges, the power grid, water and sewer plants—enhances efficiency and job formation. It seems force majeure, or unavoidable catastrophes, are the only way our political parties seem to be able to agree on doing anything that boosts growth!

Graph Econoday

The factory sector has been slowly moving higher this year. Strength in aircraft has been a big plus but there are huge swings in monthly data. So the above graph excludes civilian aircraft and tracks both orders and shipments for all other manufactured goods. The story is one of recovery with growth moving to the solid 5 to 6 percent range after a long run of contraction tied to the 2014 collapse in oil.

The best factory news has been coming from the most critical area: core capital goods where strength reflects rising investment in future production. Orders have been strong two of the last three reports, up 1.0 percent in July and 0.8 percent in May. This will boost shipments over the next few months which are already on the rise, up 1.2 percent after June's 0.6 percent gain. An upswing in capital goods is auspicious for the factory sector which itself is considered a leading indicator for the economy as a whole.

Graph: Econoday

For all the damage they cause, these hurricanes will spur a gigantic rebuilding effort—maybe upwards of $200 billion in overall spending just to replace what was destroyed. That is 1/5 of President Trump’s original infrastructure proposal.

We have to start somewhere when our government can’t otherwise agree to rebuild our badly aging plants and equipment. The latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report out today said there are 6.173 million job openings, and 5.5 million hires in August.

It is possible small business hires will pick up, as the National Federation of Independent Businesses Optimism Index rose 0.1 points in August to 105.3, matching the highest level since the 12-year high set in January. August's optimism reflected increases in the proportion of small business owners planning capital expenditures and anticipating higher sales. Capital expenditures plans in the next 3 to 6 months reached their highest level since 2006, the NFIB said.

Now is the best time for these businesses (80 percent of hires are by small businesses) will try a little harder to hire more of those 6 million that are actually available and want to return to work.

Harlan Green © 2017

Follow Harlan Green on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarlanGreen

A Decent Employment Report

Financial FAQs

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 156,000 additional nonfarm payroll jobs were created in August, which was less than expected, but will be enough to keep markets happy. And the unemployment rate edged up to 4.4 percent from July’s 4.3 percent as more workers began looking for work (77,000), but weren’t yet absorbed into the workforce. Almost all the job gains occurred in manufacturing, construction, professional and technical services, health care, and mining.

Graph: Marketwatch

A major positive in the report is a 36,000 surge in manufacturing payrolls that includes a 10,000 upward revision to July to a 26,000 increase and a 9,000 upgrade to June to a gain of 21,000. It’s a positive sign because manufacturing jobs pay higher wages.

Construction payrolls are also solid, up 28,000 in August following a 3,000 decline in July, which mirrors the surging housing market. The new-home construction rate is now above 1 million annual units, which helps replenish depleted housing stocks (and helps to slow price growth).

But retail hiring has declined for six straight months as retail stores continue to close. This is while Amazon has announced plans to hire an additional 50,000 employees to work in its distribution centers.

This was a good jobs report, in other words, and suggests the ongoing recovery, now in its eighth year, shows no signs of weakening. Wages aren’t rising any faster than 2.5 percent; which is a mystery because manufacturing and construction jobs pay higher wages. Is that because there are still 5.6 million part time workers that would rather work fulltime? They earn less, so that may be what is holding down wage growth.

But real (inflation adjusted) Disposable Income is rising again after going negative in 2016.  Disposable income measures income from rents and the self-employed, as well as wages, which may give a boost to employees’ wages. It is the major reason consumer spending rose 3.3 percent in second quarter’s GDP report, and probably will boost third quarter growth as well. Wages and salaries have now risen 0.5 percent for two consecutive months.

The combination of good unemployment and rising incomes are boosting consumer confidence. The Conference Board reported on Tuesday that its consumer confidence index is now at 122.9, which is its highest value since December 2000.

“Consumer confidence increased in August following a moderate improvement in July,” said Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board. “Consumers’ more buoyant assessment of present-day conditions was the primary driver of the boost in confidence, with the Present Situation Index continuing to hover at a 16-year high (July 2001, 151.3). Consumers’ short-term expectations were relatively flat, though still optimistic, suggesting that they do not anticipate an acceleration in the pace of economic activity in the months ahead.”

Manufacturing payrolls are surging in part because factory orders are rising again. Factory orders fell in July 3.3 percent because of a drop in aircraft orders, but there was a 6 tenths upward revision to core capital goods orders (nondefense ex-air) to a 1.0 percent gain and a 2 tenths upward revision to core shipments, now at 1.2 percent. These numbers point to accelerating strength for third-quarter business investment, which along with consumer spending are the main drivers of GDP growth.

Another boost to Q3 growth will be the recovery efforts for Hurricane Harvey. Damage estimates range up to $100 billion, and governments (as well as insurance) companies will be spending most of that money.  This is what governments need to do, even if the U.S. congress can’t pass a substantial infrastructure bill this year.

And what about the estimated 6 million damaged autos that will be replaced? That give’s another boost to the manufacturing sector, and Q3 economic growth!

Harlan Green © 2017

Follow Harlan Green on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarlanGreen