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Economy in Brief
Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Index Dips in May But Remains Strong
The Kansas City Fed reported that its manufacturing sector business activity index declined to 23 in May...
U.S. Pending Home Sales Decline Sharply in April
Home buying remains under pressure...
U.S. Unemployment Claims Eased Slightly in the Latest Week
Initial claims for unemployment insurance filed in the week ended May 21 were 210,000 (-52.4% y/y)...
Italian Confidence Makes Small Bounce in May; Is It a Signal or Is It Noise?
Italian business and consumer confidence indexes both are substantially lower in May...
U.S. Durable Goods Orders Increase Modestly in April
Manufacturers' new orders for durable goods increased 0.4% during April (12.2% y/y)...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
State Coincident Indexes in April 2022
State Labor Markets in April 2022
Profits & Margins Plunge In Q1: Expect More Margin Contraction As Fed Squeezes Inflation
The Many Links of Inflation Cycle: Hard Landing Is Needed to Crack Them
Peak Inflation and Fed Policy: A Relationship which Should Worry the Fed and Scare Investors
by Tom Moeller May 12, 2022
• Home prices & mortgage rates continue to surge.
• Payment as a percent of income increases almost two percentage points.
Affordable homes are in short supply. The National Association of Realtors' Fixed Rate Mortgage Housing Affordability Index fell 7.9% in March and has fallen by roughly one-third since its recent peak in January 2021. The Housing Affordability Index equals 100 when median family income equals the amount required for an 80% mortgage on a median-priced existing single-family home.
In March, a 4.4% rise (15.2% y/y) in the median sales price of a home to $382,000 was accompanied by a rise in mortgage rates to 4.2%, up from 3.1% twelve months earlier. As a result, the monthly mortgage payment rose 9.7% m/m to a record $1,502 (32.0% y/y).
Median family income in March rose 1.1% (-6.6% y/y) to $89,381. Consequently, the standard mortgage payment as a percent of income rose to 20.2%, the highest level since August 2008. These figures are up from a recent low of 13.6% in January of 2021.
Data on Housing Affordability can be found in Haver's REALTOR database. Median home sale prices are also located in USECON. Higher frequency interest rate data can be found in SURVEYW, WEEKLY, and DAILY.