The Truth About Housing Prices

Ten years ago, this blog predicted that housing prices, which had fallen sharply in the mortgage crisis of the mid-2000s, would not recover until 2024.  http://blogger.uncleleosden.com/2007/09/when-will-housing-prices-recover.html.  That prediction may have seemed preposterously negative to many.  But real estate prices have meandered and stagnated since then.  Although some markets have recently enjoyed brisk gains, many others remain sluggish and below their earlier peaks.  Trulia, the real estate website, yesterday released a study that predicted real estate prices nationwide would not recover until 2025.  https://www.trulia.com/blog/trends/home-value-recovery-2017/.  Looks like my prediction of ten years ago was pretty accurate.  While my analysis and Trulia's aren't directly comparable (I focused on nationwide average prices adjusted for inflation and Trulia used nominal prices unadjusted for inflation while measuring recovery in all housing markets nationwide), the basic conclusion is similar.  It will take a shipload of time for housing prices to fully recover, and the mid-2020's may be when the housing market as a whole could once again start to accentuate the positive. 

Housing historically has increased in value about 1% faster than inflation.  Stocks have tended to average around 3% above inflation.  Buy a house if you need shelter and can afford it.  But pay off the mortgage, don't borrow against the equity, and save and invest in retirement and other accounts for your golden years.  Some people who can't save money end up relying on their homes to finance retirement.  But that's a much poorer choice (pun intended) than taking advantage of the greater potential of stocks and other financial investments.  Your house is your castle.  But it's not your best option for financing retirement.

The EU Bubble

Today's kerfluffle in the stock markets over the debt default of an entity affiliated with Portugal's largest bank reminds us that if there is a financial bubble anywhere, it's in EU sovereign and bank debt.  EU sovereign debt and the debt of EU banks have become almost synonymous.  That's because they are linked by a problematic circularity.  EU banks have invested heavily in EU sovereign debt.  EU nations, in turn, have pretty much become the guarantors of the debts of their banks.  Thus, the banks borrow to invest in sovereign debt, and the sovereigns in turn guarantee the banks' debt that funds the sovereigns.  It's rather clever, as long as nothing goes wrong.

However, one could note that EU banks and sovereign nations appear to be burdened with each others' liabilities, and that the guarantees of EU nations accordingly have limited efficacy.  Given that the EU and its banks, in toto, can be reasonably described as overleveraged, this circularity can become a circular firing squad if there is a run on a major EU bank or an EU sovereign member nation.  This is particularly so since no EU nation can issue its own currency and pay its or its banks' debts with printed money.

Of course, the European Central Bank has in recent years made a show of pointing to shining armor it could don and white horses it could mount to ride to the rescue if there is another European financial crisis.  And it has adopted accommodative, money printing-like maneuvers when the going got tough (like letting EU banks use sovereign debt as collateral for borrowings at the ECB without any discounting of their face value).  If the dustup across the pond is limited to Portugal, the ECB should be able to find one way or another to keep the cookie from crumbling.  But if other EU nations, particularly larger ones like France, begin to waver, the EU financial bubble could burst in a nasty way.  The economic consequences could be bad.  Given the growing extremism in Europe, the political consequences could be worse.

There are some asset classes in the U.S. that may be getting bubbly.  Many Internet stocks are suspect. Housing except for the $1 million and up price range seems to be struggling.  In addition, small cap stocks haven't been doing well recently and may turn out to be a bubble bursting.  But it's unlikely that the frothiness of these asset classes could re-trigger the Great Recession.   On the other hand, if the EU sovereign nations can't keep their banking systems on an even keel, then all bets are off. 

Is the Fed Losing Control?

In the past two weeks, we heard from Chairman Hyde and then Chairman Jekyll.  A couple of weeks ago, Ben Bernanke made allusions to gradually winding down the Fed's bond buying program, called quantitative easing.  Up to this point, the market had perceived the current round of QE as infinite, a perception that Fed had encouraged by placing no time limts on the program, and offering only the vaguest of guidance as to when QE might end.

But two weeks ago Chairman Hyde frowned and cleared his throat, and the bond bulls began running.  In their panic, they gored many an investor who had drank the Kool-aid however reluctantly and bought risk assets like long term Treasuries, corporate bonds and junk bonds.

Within days of Chairman Hyde's hint that the punch bowl might be taken away, the ten year Treasury note was yielding over 2.5% (up from 1.6% in May) and 30-year mortgages popped up about 1% to 4.5%.  Stocks quivered, but didn't belly flop like bonds.  Alarmed, various governors of the Fed and presidents of Federal Reserve Banks chimed in and suggested that the punch bowl wouldn't be withdrawn any time soon.  Stocks perked up, but bonds continued to pout and mortgage rates kept rising. This was emphatically not what the Fed wanted, since the Fed is resorting to its old trick of trying to revive the economy by bubbling up the housing market.  Even though this is what got us into trouble in 2007-08 with the mortgage crisis, the Fed evidently has an abiding faith in its old tricks.

With the housing rally now threatened, Chairman Jekyll spoke up this past Wednesday (July 10) and made nice nice.  The little toddler of a recovery would need propping up for a long time, he said, before he'd expect it to walk on its own--a very, very long time.  He also said he was sending the senior Fed staff out for a late night booze run to stoke up the punch bowl.

Stocks did a cheery little conga and stepped up to new heights.  This might produce a bit of a wealth effect to boost the economy.  But it will be hardly a smidgen, if the bond market doldrums continue. Bonds barely budged after Chairman Jekyll's attempted love fest.  The ten-year Treasury dallied briefly with the 2.53% level, but then went back up to 2.59%.  Mortgage rates continue to cloud the skies over the housing market. 

Is the Fed losing control?  This is really two questions.  What message is the Fed trying to send?  The most recent minutes it released indicate sharp divisions within the Open Market Committee, and the truth may be that a highly mixed message would be the most accurate.  Bernanke's initial statements two weeks ago may have been an attempt to be transparent and let the public know what the Committee really thinks.  But the Fed got what it perceived as an over-reaction from the market, and has been trying to cover its tracks ever since.

But did the Fed get an over-reaction, or an accurate reaction?  The sharp sell-off in bonds and rise in mortgage rates may have reflected the erstwhile rationality of betting on a continuing rally in fixed income.  Central banks worldwide have joined together and danced the most accommodative bunny hop in the history of banking.  Anyone who anticipated a reversion to the mean in the money markets has been just about rendered CIA-style. Much of the flash crash in the bond markets may have been hedge funds and other big players unwinding leveraged positions betting on more booze for the punch bowl.  Now that the Open Market Committee may be going wobbly on the idea of giving a drunk yet another pitcher of Martinis, bond pros evidently are becoming wary of the hair of the dog that just bit them.  If so, the Fed may have lost control of the long end of the yield curve.

If the Fed no longer has a clear message to send, and can't maneuver the long end of the yield curve any more, it may lose control of the economic recovery.  But perhaps it never really had that much control.  Maybe things looked good for a while because people wanted to believe, and the Fed provided the only federal economic policy they could believe in.  With Chairman Bernanke now a short timer, courtesy of President Obama, it's unclear what anyone can believe in.  And that won't be good for the market or the economy.

Consider a House To Hedge Against Inflation

The housing market, having walloped the bejesus out of tens of millions of Americans, may seem an unlikely hedge against inflation.  But history shows that home prices tend to move up briskly during inflationary times.  During the 1940s, inflation burst out, driven first by World War II rationing and then by pent up consumer demand after the war.  Consumer prices moved up about 72%.  Census Bureau data indicates that housing prices moved from a national average of $2,938 in 1940 to $7,354 in 1950 (unadjusted for inflation).  That's an increase of 150%.

During the stagflation of the 1970s, consumer prices rose 112%.  Housing prices rose from a national average of $17,000 in 1970 to $47,200 in 1980, an increase of 178% (unadjusted for inflation).  You can find Census Bureau data on housing at https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/census/historic/values.html.

The data show that housing prices rose faster than inflation during two of the most inflationary decades in the past 75 years.  Of course, the sales prices of houses don't tell the entire story.  You can't directly compare prices of housing against prices of stocks or inflation-adjusted bonds like U.S. Treasury TIPS, because housing requires periodic lawn mowings, plumbing repairs, new roofs, maintenance of HVAC systems, and replacement of dishwashers.  It's also taxed locally every year, and sometimes hit up for special assessments if the water or sewer systems need to be gussied up.  But you'd directly or indirectly bear those expenses anyway if you rented.  So owning a house and capturing the upticks in value might work out well for you during inflationary flareups. 

Why would housing be such a good inflation hedge?  Professional economists might be tempted to wheel out a wagon load of regression analyses to demonstrate their erudition.  But the simple and obvious explanation is that a hard asset with substantial utility will have significant value no matter what the paper currency is doing.  A house provides shelter, warmth, indoor plumbing, and a private place to pig out on high fat, high sugar, low nutritional value junk foods while long-term parked in front of a 124-inch TV, parboiling your brain without the neighbors seeing what a couch burrito you really are.  Market forces will adjust the paper value of that hard asset upward when the fiat currency is going haywire.

At the moment, inflation seems to be spotted about as often as the ivory-billed woodpecker.  But that doesn't mean it's extinct.  History shows that inflation can be quiescent for long periods of time, and then burst forth like an oil well blowout.  Inflationary pressures right now are doing a fan dance, often out of sight but still faintly visible in profile.  Ultimately, unless the Fed and other central banks can repeal market forces, their massive money prints and asset purchases of recent years will eventually inflate paper currencies.

 Housing, like politics, is first and foremost local.  Some markets would make mediocre investments no matter what (like areas with high unemployment).  Some types of housing, like condos, may not be ideal for inflation hedging.  Their values tend to be less stable than that of the 4-bedroom, 2 1/2 bath Colonial with the white picket fence and English sheep dog.  A house isn't a substitute for sensible investment diversification.  Stocks, TIPS and perhaps other assets might also play a role as reasonable inflation hedges in a well-diversified portfolio. 

It's hard to have confidence in housing after the free fall in prices of recent years.  But investment success can often come from buying disfavored assets.  Buying bubbly assets like bonds (especially junk bonds) isn't likely to be the epitome of financial perspicacity.  Home sweet home, be it ever so humble, may work out better if inflation rears its ugly head.