Morning Report

Vital Statistics:

	Last	Change	Percent
S&P Futures	1413.8	-1.3	-0.09%
Eurostoxx Index	2543.8	3.9	0.15%
Oil (WTI)	107.1	0.1	0.07%
LIBOR	0.4707	-0.002	-0.42%
US Dollar Index (DXY)	79.023	0.041	0.05%
10 Year Govt Bond Yield	2.23%	-0.02%
RPX Composite	169.62	-0.2

Markets are largely maintaining their gains after yesterday's huge rally. Bonds and MBS are up slightly.

The S&P / Case-Schiller index showed a 3.8% decline year over year. Only Miami, Phoenix, and Washington DC reported increases. Atlanta was the outlier on the downside, with a nearly 15% decline YOY. Note that these are January numbers - Case-Schiller has a couple month lag.

Bloomberg has a story about bidding wars for homes in some parts of the US. While I had heard about bidding wars in the usual places - NYC and DC, this is the first I have heard about bidding wars in places like Seattle. The big question will be whether this is a permanent or temporary phenomenon. Supposedly the settlement with the State AGs ended foreclosure moratoriums, which means more supply is going to be dumped on the market. That said, I am hearing anecdotes of bidding wars in hard hit areas like Phoenix, at least in the $80k - $120k range.

On the other side of the coin, the Campbell / Inside Mortgage Finance survey notes that investors purchases are becoming a larger proportion of home sales, particularly short sales. This is being driven by the long financing timeline. Their Distressed Property Index shows that nearly half of home sales are distressed.

Chart: S&P / Case-Schiller Composite Index