Recent Posts by Mark Fleming

Mark Fleming is the chief economist for First American Financial Corporation and leads First American’s Decision Sciences team.

The Demographics of Homeownership

By Mark Fleming on September 11, 2015
The summer is officially over. Pools are closed, children are back in school, and Congress is back in session. It seems like an ideal time to catch everyone up on housing events in August, as well as look ahead to some important events in housing in the coming weeks. Read More

In The News

Existing-Home Sales Capacity Decreases 0.4 Percent in July — Market Capacity Nears Equilibrium

By Mark Fleming on August 19, 2015
First American’s proprietary Existing-Home Sales Capacity (EHS-C) model provides a gauge on whether existing-homes sales are under capacity or over capacity based on current market fundamentals. For the month of July, the EHS-C seasonally adjusted, annual rate of sales decreased by 23,000, a decreased of 0.4 percent compared to June and a decrease ... Read More

Housing

I, House: The Complexity and Far-Reaching Benefits of Homeownership

By Mark Fleming on August 4, 2015
A recent release from the American Enterprise Institute harkened back to Milton Friedman’s discussion of the now famous I, Pencil essay by Leonard Read. In short, I, Pencil tells the story of a pencil and the multitude of factors that go into its assembly. Where does the wood come from? How is it transported? What goes into the production of the ... Read More

Anything But Normal Is The New Normal - Risk Intelligence Forum

By Mark Fleming on July 31, 2015
Last week, I had the distinct pleasure of attending the First American Risk Intelligence Forum in Nashville, Tennessee. It was my first visit to Nashville and it did not disappoint. The tour of the Country Music Hall of Fame, and the dinner and country music at City Winery were fabulous. Read More

Loan Application Defect Index

Existing-Home Sales Capacity Decreases 1.7 Percent in June

By Mark Fleming on July 21, 2015
Housing market improving as underperformance gap between existing-home sales and market capacity shrinks. First American’s proprietary Existing-Home Sales Capacity (EHS-C) model provides a gauge on whether existing-homes sales are under capacity or over capacity based on current market fundamentals. For the month of June, the EHS-C rate decreased ... Read More

Housing

One Country’s Pain is Another One’s Gain

By Mark Fleming on July 15, 2015
Over the weekend, Greece signed up for an agreement with the European Union that saved it from a “Grexit” (Greek exit from the Eurozone). In other news, the Chinese stock market has finally stabilized almost a third off its early June peak. Yet this wasn’t necessarily the result of the market alone, but significant intervention on the part of the ... Read More

Interest Rates Federal Reserve