Trending Thursday is a roundup of the stories shaping the week and what’s yet to come through the weekend — also taking into account social media reaction. Think of it as a midweek Monday Morning Cup of Coffee, but with extra caffeine.
Millennials ruled housing this week, along with a mix of other ringers like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
After an hour discussing the ins and outs of Millennials with housing’s top economists at the Housing Policy Council at the Financial Services Roundtable, the one fact that everyone agreed on was that millennials are buying and want to buy.
Yes, there are roadblocks to Millennials jumping into housing right now, but this is often translated to “Oh no! Millennials are not buying and all the work that has gone into the economic recovery is going to come to a screeching halt.”
Wrong.
As Nela Richardson, chief economist at Redfin, so eloquently said in the panel, millennials, unlike other generations, are willing to wait on the sidelines until a house comes up that they truly love.
For a full video of the panel, moderated by yours truly, click here.
And the millennial talk doesn’t end there.
An article in the Wall Street Journal took off due to the points it made on the rental market, making the bold claim that the future ahead doesn’t look too bright, with more people renting and fewer affordable homes becoming available.
The WSJ articles cites research from the Urban Institute that predicts that more than 3 in 4 new households with decade, and 7 of 8 the next, will be formed by minorities. These new households—nearly half of which will be Hispanic—have lower incomes, less wealth and lower homeownership rates than the U.S. average.
Here’s where millennials come back into the picture.
While they are now the largest generation and can help housing, they probably won’t give it the hydro boost needed.
Housing construction is sure to rise as the millennial generation, about 75 million Americans born between 1981 and 1997,comes of age and leaves the nest. But Laurie Goodman, one of the Urban Institute researchers, says these households have less wealth than previous generations.
The CFPB continued to capture readers’ attentions with the following headlines:
RPM Mortgage: We did nothing wrong, but settled with CFPB anyway http://t.co/xZOh0tggzH #hw
— HousingWire (@HousingWire) June 8, 2015
It's official: CFPB will grant grace period on TRID enforcement http://t.co/SxMcC0gzJJ #hw
— HousingWire (@HousingWire) June 3, 2015
All eyes will zero in on the Federal Open Market Committee’s press conference next Wednesday.
The FOMC will also give its forecast next week, which it does four times a year. What’s special about this report?
“Traditionally, the Fed forecasts covered GDP, the PCE price index, and the civilian unemployment rate. However, the forecast report additionally now includes forecasts for the appropriate timing of the next change in the fed funds rate and the expected fed funds rate at the end of the next two years,” Econoday said about the announcement.
Everyone has their opinion on when the Fed will raise the federal funds rates, most of they projecting it will happen soon.
After reporting that mortgage rates finally drifted above 4%, analysts with Bankrate said, “Mortgage rates rocketed higher following a stronger than expected monthly employment report. The good news on the job front further solidifies the notion that the Federal Reserve will likely begin raising interest rates soon, perhaps in the third quarter of this year.”
