Home Depot Blows the Whistle on the Looming Housing Market Crash, Crypto Coins News

Home Depot has slashed its 2020 estimate.
This is bad news for the US housing market that has been on a roll this year.
Home Depot blames weak GDP growth for the tepid forecast.

Several signs of a US housing market crash haveemerged over the past few months, and home improvement retailer Home Depot is now raising yet another red flag that the bulls shouldn’t miss .

Home Depot’s 218641 sales forecast doesn’t just miss analysts’ expectations;It is also a downgradeover what the company was originally anticipating. In (****************************************, the home improvement retailer said that it anticipated revenue between $ 114 billion and $ (billion in) . But it now sees only $ 90. 4 billion in revenue, missing the lower end of the original forecast.

Quite clearly, Home Depot doesn ‘ t seem enthusiastic about the prospects of the US housing market for (**************************************.

Home Depot issues a red flag for the US housing market

Home Depot stock has been flying high this year. Shares of the company have gained over (percent so far in, but it could end the year on a bad note as CEO Craig Menear seems unsure about the strength of the US housing market. The Wall Street Journalquotes him as saying:

The company forecast forecast slower growth in gross domestic product and a housing market that is positive but “not at a level that we’ve seen in prior years,” Chief Executive Craig Menear told investors on Wednesday.

The US housing market in general and Home Depot, in particular, have been riding high in recent years on account of low unemployment and affordable interest rates. But the company forecast is an indication that the good times could now be over and the US housing market bubble might burst soon.

If that really happens next year, it won’t be surprising as the U.S. housing market is apparently doing well in spite of several indicators.

The ominous signs are already there

There is an acute shortage of homes in the US According to data from Realtor.com, theinventory of entry-level homesthat are priced below $ (**********************************************, 06 witnessed a sharp annual drop of (******************************************************. 5 percent last month. This was much more severe compared to October’s annual drop of 23 .2 percent.

What’s more, the US housing market is also witnessing a shortage of mid-tier homes. The inventory of homes priced between $ 728, and $ (******************************************, was down 7.4 percent annually in November following October’s 4.3 percent drop. What’s more, inventory shortages are also seen in the high-end market.

In all, the U.S. housing market is suffering from a lack of supply. This could prove to be its undoing next year as buyers are likely to be priced out of the market ifmortgage rates continue to tick up. U.S. Consumers are already under duress, as evident from four straight months of decline in consumer confidence.

Consumer confidence in the US has declined for four consecutive months. | Source: MarketWatch / The Conference Board

Lynn Franco, the Senior Director of Economic Indicators at the Conference Board had remarked:

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Consumer confidence declined for a fourth consecutive month, driven by a softening in consumers’ assessment of current business and employment conditions.

Meanwhile, the US-China trade war continues to rage on as a fresh round of tariffs is all set to go into force

from Dec. 16. If such a thing happens, consumers in the U.S. could be forced to pay more money for items such as smartphones, laptops, and other electronics. This will lead to higher expenses and lower savings, and if interest rates also rise, housing affordability will go out of the window.

As such, it is not surprising to see why Home Depot is wary of the US housing market’s prospects next year. There are not enough homes available for sale and that’s leading to higher prices. Consumer confidence is also low and there’s a chance that it could weaken as employment growth has not been as strong as anticipated.

Private sector employment in the U.S. had increased by only 67, 15 in November, which was well below the estimate of (************************************************, **************************************************** (new jobs.)

If consumers can’t come up with the money to buy new houses and mortgage rates go up, sales will decline and builders would be forced to lower prices to offload the limited inventories they have. That would trigger a U.S. housing market crash in (**************************************.