In the seven weeks since Bernanke unleashed monetary policy hell on the world, much has been made of the 'housing recovery' and how his policy will help sustain this boomlet. Unfortunately, facts being those annoying things that they are, this is absolutely not the case. Aside from a one week knee-jerk ramp in refinancings - no doubt driven by every mortgage broker in the country dialing-for-dollars on the basis that Ben's-got-your-back - mortgage applications have fallen for five weeks in a row... We presume this merely means we need another moar unlimited QE - which given the fiscal cliff fiasco, is as likely as not. In fact, the next round of housing weakness, which is due imminently now that Obama has been reelected, will serve as the alibi the Fed needs to continue the unsterilized portion of Operation Twist 2 set to expire at the end of the year, and which as we explained [4], will mean that starting January 1, the Fed will monetize $85 billion/month in TSYs and MBS instead of just $40 billion in MBS.
Mortgage Applications have plunged five weeks in a row...
[5]
and as a reminder - Existing Home Sales vs Mortgage Apps...
[6]
Charts: Bloomberg