ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
Housing Market Intro and Summary A little over a month after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell suggested that the housing market would soon normalize, mortgage rates have increased and the stocks of home builders have generally gone nowhere. The National Association of Realtors projected much stronger growth in existing home sales this year than in … Read more
Mortgage rates are on the rise following record high lumber prices. Together, these measures are starting to weigh on the stocks of home builders. 30-Year Mortgage Rate The 30-Year fixed rate mortgage average in the United States hit 2.97% on Thursday, February 25th. Not only is this rate a 6-month high, but also the rise … Read more
If the housing market remains strong through 2021, Meritage Homes (MTH) may be one of the best catch-up trades in the cohort of major home builders. MTH hit an all-time high 4 months ago in October. Since September, MTH’s valuation has dropped from 2.0 (expensive!) price/book to 1.4, 1.1 price/sales to 0.7, 12.8 to 8.1 … Read more
“We are confident our positive trajectory will continue as not only did our fourth quarter net new contracts increase 45% over last year but we have seen our sales pace accelerate, with December up 54% and January increasing 77%. We are solidly positioned with a backlog of 3,439 sold homes, an increase of 66%, along … Read more
Housing Market Intro and Summary “…the level of housing activity is at its highest level since before the global financial crisis in some measure. So we’ve had a very strong rebound in housing. Some of the tightness in housing markets — which has led to the significant price increases this year — we think is … Read more