News in end use

The National Association of Realtors® reported its Pending Homes Sales Index (PHSI) remained unchanged from March to April, holding steady at a reading of 78.9. Year-over-year, contract signings fell 20.3%.

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that the national median payment applied for by applicants increased 0.9% to $2,112 from $2,093 in March.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis released Thursday its “second” estimate for Q1 real GDP. According to the report, GDP increased at an annual rate of 1.3%. This follows a reported increase of 2.6% in 2022Q4.

Freddie Mac has released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® for the week ending May 25th. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.57%, up from last week when it averaged 6.39%.

The advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 229,000 during the week ending on May 20th. This is an increase of 4,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 225,000.

According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Market Composite Index, mortgage loan application volume declined 4.6% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.

That the count of multifamily, for-rent housing starts remained elevated in Q1. Of the 127,000 multifamily residences that started construction, 123,000 units were being built for rental use.

New residential single-family home sales for April were at a SAAR of 683,000, according to estimates. This is 4.1% above the revised March rate of 656,000 and 11.8% above the April 2022 estimate of 611,000.

As interest rates increased in 2022 and 2023 and housing affordability deteriorated, the demand for home size has trended lower. In Q1, the median single-family square floor areas registered at 2,261 square feet.

Statistics Canada reported that prices for products manufactured in Canada, as measured by the Industrial Product Price Index, declined 0.2% month-over-month in April and were 3.5% lower than April 2022.