Southern States Struggle as Higher Prices Grasp Households
- According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, approximately 37% of Americans responded they had difficulty paying for household expenses in June 25, 2024- July 22, 2024.
- The heatmap below outlines the share of adults by state who reported difficulty paying for household expenses (the darker shading represents higher percentages).
- Notable findings: Mississippi had the largest difficulty paying for household expenses at 49.5%, followed by Alabama at 45.5%.
WalletHub’s August 2024 Economic Index Shows Signs of Optimism in Consumer Sentiment Year-over-Year, with the Exception of “Employment Opportunities”
- The WalletHub’s Economic Index, which is a monthly survey that measures ten components of consumer sentiment (personal financing, purchasing plans and employment opportunities), increased 4% year-over-year (between August 2023 – August 2024). An increase indicates that consumers may be more confident about their financial outlook than they were at the same time last year.
- The largest year-over-year percentage changes were in the categories of: “Likelihood of buying a car in the next 6 months” at 15.9% and the “Likelihood of buying a home in the next 6 months” at 15.6%.
- The largest decline was in the category: “Positive sentiment about current employment opportunities,” which declined 12.6% year-over-year.
- The following chart illustrates the monthly change in WalletHub’s Economic Index by month from December 2020 to August 2024. After peaking at 3.44% in May 2024, the index has declined for three consecutive months to 2.73% in August 2024.
Given the +15.9% change year-over-year in WalletHub’s category: “Likelihood of buying a home in the next 6 months”, we examine next the change in Median Sale Prices of a House.
The Median Sale Price of a House Climbs Higher
- Utilizing Redfin’s Weekly Housing Market Data, the U.S. Median Sale Price has continued to trend higher in 2024 (black line in chart below), at $389,500 on 9/1/24. This was 3.87% higher year-over-year from the same day last year.
A Troubling Sign… Delinquencies On the Rise
- The final chart illustrates delinquency balances by loan type for the following categories: auto, credit card, HELOC, mortgage, student loans and other.
- In 2Q 2024, delinquencies in the majority of the loan categories (as measured by 30+ days of delinquency) trended higher. The largest loan category with 30+ day delinquencies was credit cards at 9.05%.
- Delinquencies for student loans had the largest decline from 9.05% in Q1 2020 to 0.92% in Q2 2024.
