Below is a chart and brief excerpt from today's Early Look written by Macro analyst Christian Drake.
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A notable aspect of the sustained spike in purchase volume is that its occurring alongside a discrete tightening in mortgage credit availability – mortgage credit has tightened significantly since April but has not manifested as a growing spread between Purchase Applications and closed transaction volume (i.e. a higher application rejection rate). Ostensibly, this underscores the broader inequality dynamics that have pervaded pandemic related socio-economics (job loss concentrated among those least able to shoulder it, recovery/income gains disproportionately accruing to owners of capital and financial assets). Effectively, everyone who’s qualified is buying a house, while everyone who isn’t wishes they could … a dynamic that will only serve to further propagate the inequality cycle. |
