News in end use

Redfin reported on Friday that the median US asking rent increased 1.7% year-over-year to $1,937 in February. This marks the smallest increase in nearly 24 months and the lowest level in a year. A year earlier, rents were up nearly 10 times that much: 16.5%.

Statistics Canada reported today that in February employment increased by 22,000, or 0.1%. This follows two consecutive monthly gains. Employment has trended upward since September 2022, and there were 348,000, or 1.8%, more employed persons in Canada in February than in August 2022.

According to the Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. Job Cuts Report released today, US-based employers announced 77,770 job cuts in February, down 24% from the 102,943 announced job cuts in January. However, this is 410% higher than a year ago.

A closer look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) for January reveals that the construction labor market experienced a substantial decline in job openings in January as the housing market slowed.

Freddie Mac has released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® for the week ending March 9th. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.73%, up from last week when it averaged 6.65%. A year ago at this time, the 30-year rate averaged 3.85%.

The US Department of Labor is reporting that the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 211,000 during the week ending on Saturday, March 4th. This is an increase of 21,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 190,000.

According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Application Survey, for the ending March 3rd, the Market Composite Index (a measure of mortgage loan application volume) increased 7.4% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 9.0%.

According to the January ADP® National Employment Report™ released Wednesday, nonfarm private sector employment increased by 242,000 jobs in February and annual pay was up 7.2% year-over-year. The report is produced by the ADP Research Institute® in collaboration with Stanford Digital Economy Lab.

On Wednesday, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary (JOLTS) for January. According to the JOLTS report, as of the last business day in January the number and rate of job openings declined to 10.8 million (a loss of 410,000) and 6.5%, respectively.

Fannie Mae has released its Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI) for February. The HPSI fell 3.6 points in February to a reading of 58.0. The decline ends a streak of three consecutive monthly gains, returning the HPSI closer to its all-time survey low set in October 2022.