Tag Archives: Odeta Kushi

On a regional basis compared to one year ago, pending home sales decreased in the Northeast but improved in the Midwest, South, and West.

HUD and the Census Bureau have reported privately‐owned housing starts were up in November 2023, nearly 15% above October 2023’s totals.

Month-over-month, contract signings intensified in the Northeast but diminished in multiple other U.S. regions. First American Deputy Chief Economist Odeta Kushi commented, “While there remains quite a bit of demand for homes on the sidelines, you can't buy what's not for sale, even if you can afford it.”

"It's clear that increased housing inventory and better interest rates are essential to revive the housing market," said NAR Chief Economist Yun. Click through for more on NAR’s August Pending Home Sales report.

U.S. housing supply jumped to 7.8 months at the current sales rate in August, the highest measure recorded since March 2023, as the inventory of completed homes for sale continued to climb, hitting its highest level since April 2020.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, privately owned housing units counted by the number of building permits issued in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,442,000. This number is slightly above the revised June rate but still 13% below the July 2022 rate of 1,658,000.

Odeta Kushi, First American’s Deputy Chief Economist, has authored a new blog post discussing the definition of a housing recession and looking at the momentum of sales to determine if we are in fact flirting with a “double-dip” housing recession.

HUD and the Census Bureau report that privately-owned housing units recorded an annual rate of 1,440,000 units in June, down from 922,000 reported year-over-year.

MortgagePoint speaks with mortgage servicing execs from BOK Financial, Carrington, the NMSA, PHH Mortgage Corporation, and Servbank about the unusual times and unusual opportunities the industry faces midway through 2023.

For the first time in 15 months, the Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee moved to hold the nominal interest rate steady at a range of 5.00% to 5.25%.