San Diego Housing Market News and Analysis

We determined in a previous episode that despite an overwhelming belief in the idea, job losses did not trigger the early-1990s housing downturn. Something else must have been at work... but what?

Today we'll turn our suspicious eye toward interest rates. After all, potentially higher mortgage rates are the clouds on the horizon of even the sunniest real estate forecast. As long as rates stay low, bullish housing analysts routinely tell us, home prices should hold up. (This statement is often followed by a silent prayer to the gods of the bond market). So it seems reasonable to wonder whether uncooperative interest rates were at least partly responsible for the 90s downturn.

The answer in this case is a resounding "no."

read more at voiceofsandiego.org

The permabulls are drooling all over themselves with glee about a recent study indicating that the median San Diego home seller in recent months collected a tidy 91% profit on his or her home. Of course, this doesn't include transaction costs, improvements, or cash-out refis along the way... it is just a comparison of prior sale price and recent sale price. Even considering all that, though, 91% sure isn't bad.

But this is all a waste of perfectly good permabull drool, because the statistic in question has nothing positive to say about the future disposition of home prices.

Break out the flannel shirts and re-insert those body piercings, because we're headed back to the early 1990s. The good news: no Judge Ito jokes are forthcoming. The bad: I can't say the same about housing charts.

The idea that San Diego's early-1990s housing bust was caused entirely by local job losses has provided comfort to many a real estate investor in recent years. If job growth can just stay positive, the soothing logic goes, then we can avoid the ugly outcome that took place the last time around. The appeal of this line of thinking, which appears to be almost universally accepted as truth, should be obvious.

But the evidence doesn't support the theory that unemployment was the sole cause of the housing bust. Have a gander at the following chart, which details the monthly changes in San Diego home prices and employment from 1990 through 1997:

read more at voiceofsandiego.org

The following slew of charts depicts October's housing market activity here in San Diego. Executive summary: the slow grind downward continues apace.

Prices

From the prior month, median prices declined 2.7% and 1.3% for detached homes and condos respectively.

Sometimes I wonder if the folks at the National Association of Realtors are actually trying set themselves up for future trouble.

First they released their so-called anti-bubble reports to demonstrate that "the facts simply do not support the possibility of a housing bust." In addition to the usual poor analysis we have come to expect from this outfit, the San Diego edition contained a blatant falsehood that remains there to this day, despite the fact that I repeatedly notified NAR of its existence back in March.

Now, they are at it again with their new $40 million dollar ad campaign to let us know that "It's a great time to buy or sell a home."

read more at voiceofsandiego.org

Last week, Scott Lewis SLOP'd about the San Diego County pension system's sizable investment in D.E. Shaw, a hedge fund that is heavily involved in so-called "credit default swaps."

If you're like most people, you probably started to lose consciousness by the end of that last sentence. But stay awake if you can. Because it turns out that San Diego's fortunes are very much tied to these arcane financial instruments

Credit default swaps, or CDSs, are basically a form of insurance that lenders of money purchase in order to ensure that they will be paid back. That, at least, is the idea. Let's examine a hypothetical, certainly oversimplified, but hopefully illustrative day in the life of a CDS.

read more at voiceofsandiego.org

Some folks didn't cotton to my conclusion that the DOF population data was probably better than the Census Bureau data, so I thought I'd clarify my reasoning.

I do not pretend to know much about the ins and outs of tax returns vs. driver's license issuance or for that matter any of the other methodological differences between the two organizations' figures. Nor do I really care to take the time that would be required to dig into it (for reasons that are explained below).

I mentioned in the last article that positive job growth belied a population decline. This was, for me, the deciding factor. Let's look at those numbers:

We never quite settled the issue of the dualing statistical bureaus and their respective takes on San Diego population growth. The U.S. Census Bureau, as you may recall, indicated that San Diego County was experiencing negative net migration, meaning that more people were moving out of the county than moving in, to such an extent that population growth had actually gone negative in 2005. The California Department of Finance, meanwhile, reckoned that both net migration and population growth were positive.

So why the big difference, and more importantly, who was right?

read more at voiceofsandiego.org

Employment within San Diego's "housing boom beneficiary" job sectors (construction, finance/real estate, and retail) has been effectively flat since last year. The number of people employed in this sector in September was down a razor-thin .1 percent from the prior September, according to the latest batch of Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

read more at voiceofsandiego.org

Back in February, I wrote here about a California Association of Realtors' prediction that when all was said and done, the median price for California homes sold in 2006 would be $575,500. Such was their apparent confidence, I noted at the time, that they didn't even feel the need to round to the nearest $1,000. Yet the forecast turned out to be off by a bit more than that, as CAR's most recent projection for the 2006 median has fallen to $561,000.

read more at voiceofsandiego.org

It's time for the belated monthly sales data roundup. Let's dive right in...

Median prices were down year over year for all involved:

Hi everyone - I am back in action after a road trip with the missus up beautiful Highway 1. I need a little time to put together the most recent housing data; in the meantime there is a sneak peak at voiceofsandiego.org.

Last week, a consortium of federal regulatory agencies released their long awaited "Guidance on Nontraditional Mortgage Product Risks." The linked-to press release tells us exactly what they mean by "nontraditional":

These products, referred to variously as "nontraditional," "alternative," or "exotic" mortgage loans (referred to below as nontraditional mortgage loans), include "interest-only" mortgages and "payment option" adjustable-rate mortgages. These products allow borrowers to exchange lower payments during an initial period for higher payments later.

As Will Carless pointed out back in June, 70 percent of San Diego home loans in 2005 were of either the interest-only or payment-option type. So it would appear that the new regulations put some of San Diego's favorite loan products directly in the crosshairs.

Some highlights of the new guidelines follow:

read more at voiceofsandiego.org

Some readers wanted to know more about my semi-cryptic reference to "the new gig," so I thought I'd provide a little more detail here.  Don’t worry, I'm not going to start incessantly shilling for the new business. However, I may occasionally shill for the new business. Like now, for instance.

I have joined an existing firm called Pacific Capital Associates*. The firm offers "comprehensive financial planning" -- investment management, estate planning, insurance, and the like.  They also offer real estate services and home loans, although they are firmly in the real estate bear camp and have routinely talked people out of buying. (And I’m proud to say that they have never put a single client into an Option ARM).

What I do is talk to people about their finances, make recommendations, and directly manage their investment portfolios.  This investment management is the primary focus of what I do, and I employ the same analytical approach to global investment markets -- independent, fundamentally-based, and forward-looking -- that I have taken with San Diego real estate.

I'd be happy to meet with any Econo-Almanac readers who would like to get my thoughts on their financial situations or on investing in general. It doesn't cost anything, and there will be absolutely no pressure – I may be the least salesy guy on Earth.  I simply talk to people and help them make informed financial decisions.  After that, if it is appropriate and desired, I can help implement a plan or manage investments (and it is only at this point that any cost is incurred).  If you're interested, please e-mail me at rtoscano@pcasd.com and we can set up an appointment.

While on the topic of scheduling, I am leaving town next week so the site will probably be devoid of content during that time.

Okay, we now return you to your regularly scheduled doom-mongering.

* - Pacific Capital Associates offers securities and investment advisory services through Girard Securities, NASD/SIPC

After what seemed like an unstoppable rise since the beginning of the year, long-term mortgage rates have since plummeted in an equally relentless manner.

Here in San Diego, though, the majority of buyers do not use 30-year fixed rate mortgages like those depicted by the blue line in the chart. The local housing market is influenced less by fixed rates than by adjustable mortgage rates, the the decline in which has been less dramatic.

read more at voiceofsandiego.org