What a Difference an Election Makes
By
Mark Fleming on December 13, 2016
What a difference an election makes. Since the election, we have seen a pronounced increase in the popular 30 year-fixed mortgage rate. In the words of Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen, financial markets expect that expansionary fiscal policy will accelerate U.S. economic growth and increase inflation. As a result, the 30-year fixed mortgage ...
Read More ›
Housing Interest Rates Real House Price Index Federal Reserve
Lack of Affordable Inventory Keeps Market Below Potential
By
Mark Fleming on November 21, 2016
October 2016 Potential Home Sales
Read More ›
Buy, Buy Millennials!
By
Mark Fleming on November 7, 2016
A common narrative over the last several years is that Millennials are breaking with the habits of their parents when it comes to home buying. Millennials rent longer, live with their parents, and are burdened with student loan debt. In short, it would seem that for a variety of reasons they aren’t as interested in homeownership as their ...
Read More ›
Crowd-Sourced Title Agent Projections More Accurate than Many Economic Forecasts
By
Mark Fleming on October 21, 2016
It has been a full year since our proprietary Real Estate Sentiment Index (RESI) first shared title agents’ predictions for price growth and other key metrics across property types for the year ahead. So, with a full year of data, the time is right to ask the question: how accurate is the wisdom of the crowd? In a post late last year, we discussed ...
Read More ›
Interview on Bloomberg TV: Discussing Housing Starts, Millennial Home Buying and More
By
FirstAm Editor on October 19, 2016
First American Chief Economist Mark Fleming was invited to share his perspective on housing starts, Millennial home buying and more on Bloomberg Markets this morning. Mark commented on the tipping point signaled in today’s housing start numbers.
Read More ›
Market is Missing Its Potential Due to Tight Supply
By
Mark Fleming on October 18, 2016
First American has updated its proprietary Potential Home Sales model for the month of September.
Read More ›