News in end use

A closer look at the U.S. Census Bureau’s Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design data, with further analysis provided by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), reveal the custom home building expanded in 2021 by 10.8%.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Builder Application Survey (BAS) for January 2022, mortgage applications for new home purchases declined -12.5% year-over-year.

According to Zillow®’s, latest monthly report, home buyers will be facing another difficult shopping season. Home shoppers hoping for an injection of options and relief from heightened competition after December’s inventory drought instead saw the biggest decline in at least three years.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s data for Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design, with further analysis provided by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), townhouse construction increased by 28.1% in 2021. In 2020, medium-density construction lagged as housing demand shifted to more suburban and exurban areas.

According to the latest report from Redfin, the Seattle-based, technology-powered real estate brokerage firm, in the four weeks ending February 13, 2022, homes sold faster than ever before. A record 57% of homes that went under contract did so within two weeks of being listed.

The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) reported on Friday (2-18-22) that total existing home sales (completed transactions for single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, and co-ops) rose 6.7% in January from December to a seasonally adjusted rate at 6.50 million homes.

The Conference Board, a non-partisan, not-for-profit think tank founded in 1916, released today (2-18-22) the Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for the U.S. in January 2022. According to the report, the LEI for the U.S. decreased by -0.3% in January to 119.6 (2016 = 100), following a 0.7% in increase in December and a 0.8% increase in November.

According to Statistics Canada (StatsCan), the number of Canadians receiving regular Employment Insurance (EI) benefits dropped by 56,000 (-8.1%) in December to 636,000. The number of regular EI beneficiaries fell in all provinces in December.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported on Thursday (2-17-22) that privately‐owned housing starts in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 1,638,000. This is -4.1% below the revised December estimate of 1,708,000 but is 0.8% above the January 2021 rate of 1,625,000.

There were approximately 15,000 single-family built-for-rent (SFBFR) starts during the final quarter of 2021. Over the course of 2021, 51,000 such homes began construction, which is a 15.9% gain compared to the 44,000 estimated SFBFR starts in 2020.