Fannie Mae's Economic & Strategic Research (ESR) Group lowered its full-year economic growth forecast to 1.7 percent, down from 1.9 percent growth in the prior forecast and 2.2 percent at the start of the year.
The downgrade is largely because of disappointing first quarter growth of 0.5 percent. The ESR Group expects economic growth to bounce back as the country moves through 2016 amid improved financial conditions, with consumer spending remaining an engine for growth and the housing and government sectors making positive contributions. However, it will not be sufficient enough to overcome the damage done during the first quarter of the year.
“Consumers and businesses showed caution at the end of the first quarter,” Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan said in a news release. “Job creation slowed in April and participation in the labor force gave back some of the recent gains. Nevertheless, the uptick in both hours worked and average hourly earnings should boost labor income and help support consumer spending in the current quarter. In addition, we saw a healthy rebound in April auto sales and greater demand for consumer loans. While the Fed appears to be less worried about financial turmoil abroad, the vote on whether the U.K. will leave the European Union, scheduled to occur about a week after the June Federal Open Market Committee meeting, should keep the Fed from raising interest rates next month.”
Duncan said home sales are expected to pick up in typical fashion with the start of the spring selling season, as declining mortgage rates, rising pending home sales and purchase mortgage applications, and continued easing of lending standards helps the market.
“Meanwhile, the homeownership rate showed signs of stabilizing during the first quarter of this year, as the relatively high homeownership rates among baby boomers have helped offset low homeownership rates among millennials, many of whom remain on the sidelines due to ongoing affordability issues,” he said.