News in end use

A closer look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Opening and Turnover Survey report for December, with a focus on the construction sector and additional analysis provided by the National Association of Home Builders, reveals that the construction job openings rate increased by 5% month-over-month.

Freddie Mac has released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® for the week ending February 2, 2023. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.09%, down from last week when it averaged 6.13%. A year ago at this time, the 30-year rate averaged 3.55%.

According to the Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. Job Cuts Report released today, US-based employers announced 102,943 job cuts in January, a 136% increase from the 43,651 announced job cuts in December. It is up 440.0% from the 19,064 job cuts announced in January 2022.

The US Department of Labor is reporting that the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 183,000 during the week ending on Saturday, January 28, 2023. This is a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 186,000.

On Wednesday, the US Census Bureau reported that total construction spending during December was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,809.8 billion, 0.4% below the revised November estimate. The December figure is 7.7% above the December 2021 estimate.

On Wednesday, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics released its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary (JOLTS) for December. According to the JOLTS report, as of the last business day in December, the number and rate of job openings increased to 11.0 million and 6.7%, respectively.

According to the January ADP® National Employment Report™ released today, nonfarm private sector employment increased by 106,000 jobs in January, and annual pay was up 7.3% year-over-year. The report is produced by the ADP Research Institute® in collaboration with Stanford Digital Economy Lab.

According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Application Survey, for the ending January 27th, the Market Composite Index (a measure of mortgage loan application volume) declined 9.0% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.

The US Census Bureau on Tuesday released its Quarterly Residential Vacancies and Homeownership report for 2022Q4. According to the report, the homeownership rate of 65.9% in 2022Q4 was little changed from the 2021Q4 rate of 65.5%. Approximately 89.9% of the housing units were occupied.

According to the latest Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI®) released today (1-31-23), US home prices declined 0.1% in November when compared to October. Year-over-year, home prices rose 8.2%. The previously reported 0.0% price increase in October 2022 remained unchanged.