News in end use

The Bureau of Economic Analysis released today its “third” estimate for Q2 real GDP. According to the report, GDP decreased at an annual rate of 0.6% in Q2 2022. The decline follows a Q1 2022 real GDP of -1.6% (same as previously published).

Statistics Canada reported today that Canadian real GDP edged 0.1% higher in July, after recording a similar 0.1% increase in June. Growth in goods-producing industries, up 0.5%, were partially offset by declines in the services-producing industries of 0.1%.

Freddie Mac has released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) for the week ending September 29, 2022. The PMMS reports that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 6.70% with an average 0.9 point, up from last week when it averaged 6.29%.

The US Department of Labor is reporting that seasonally adjusted an additional 193,000 Americans made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on September 24. This is a decrease of 16,000 from the previous week’s revised-lower level of 209,000 (originally reported as 213,000).

The National Association of Realtors® released on Wednesday its Pending Homes Sales Index (PHSI), declined 2.0% month-over-month in August to a reading of 88.4. The index has now declined nine times in the past ten months. Year-over-year, contract signings have declined 24.4%.

According to data from a Mortgage Bankers Association survey, for the week ending September 23rd, the Market Composite Index (a measure of mortgage loan application volume) decreased 3.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.

According to Black Knight, the overall mortgage delinquency rate in August declined to 2.79%, down from 3.60% in July. The August delinquency rate is just 4 basis points above the historic low of 2.75% set in May 2022.

On Tuesday, the US Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly announced that new residential single-family home sales for August were at a SAAR of 685,000, according to estimates. This is 28.3% above the revised July 2022 rate.

According to the latest Federal Housing Finance Agency House Price Index (HPI®), nationwide US home prices declined 0.6% from June. However, from July 2021 to July 2022, house prices rose 13.9%.

On Tuesday, the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller US National Home Price Index (NSA) was released for July. The Index shows that home prices experienced a 15.8% annual gain in July, down from 18.1% reported in June. This is the fourth consecutive monthly decline.