News in end use

The Conference Board released today (11-18-22) the Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for the US in October 2022. According to the report, the LEI declined 0.8% in October to a reading of 114.9 (2016=100), following a 0.5% drop in September and remaining unchanged in August.

The National Association of Realtors® reported on Friday that total existing home sales recorded a 5.9% decline in October, reaching a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.43 million homes. This is the nineth consecutive monthly decrease.

The US Census Bureau reported on Thursday that privately‐owned housing starts in October were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,425,000. This is 4.2% below the revised September estimate of 1,488,000 and 8.8% below the October 2021 rate.

The National Association of Home Builders today released the results of its Multifamily Market Survey (MMS) for 22Q3. According to the MMS, builders’ confidence in the market for new multifamily housing declined appreciably during the time period.

Freddie Mac has released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS) for the week ending November 17th. The PMMS reports that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 6.61%, down from last week when it averaged 7.08%.

Redfin, the real estate brokerage firm, reported on the Wednesday that in October the US median asking rent rose 7.8% year-over-year to $1,983. This is the smallest annual increase since August of 2021.

The US Department of Labor is reporting that the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 222,000, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week’s revised level (originally reported as 225,000). The 4-week moving average was 221,000.

The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported on Wednesday that October’s standalone monthly seasonally adjusted annual rate of total housing starts for all areas in Canada declined month-over-month by 11% to 267,055 units.

On Wednesday, the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index reported that builder sentiment in the market for newly built single-family homes dropped 5 points lower to a reading of 33 in November. This marks the eleventh consecutive monthly decline.

According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Application Survey, for the week ending November 11th, the Market Composite Index (a measure of mortgage loan application volume) increased 2.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.