Living in a negative rate world …
It is not surprising that the REAL German Pfandbriefe 10-year rate is negative, since the NOMINAL rate is also negative. Especially since the NOMINAL German sovereign yield is negative.
When we subtract German inflation from the Pfandbriefe 10-year rate, we get a REAL Pfandbriefe rate of 2.365%.
A Pfandbriefe is a type of covered bond. A covered bond is a debt security that is common in Europe. It issued by a bank or mortgage institution and collateralized against a pool of assets that, in case of default of the issuer, can cover claims at any point of time.
On the short end of maturity, the REAL 1-2 year Pfandbriefe rate is -2.55.
Then we have negative REAL 30-year mortgage rates in the US.
Housing prices? Germany looks positively tame in terms of house price growth compared to the US, although the Eurostat data for German house price growth is lagged behind the already lagged Case-Shiller data.
Like the US, there is a considerable gap between house price growth and income growth.
Here is a chart for the US pointing to unsustainable house price growth.
How is the ECB impacting German house prices? Much like the USA.
Housing in a negative rate and housing bubble world.