News in end use

Freddie Mac has released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) for the week ending July 14, 2022. The PMMS reports that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.51% with an average 0.8 point, up from last week when it averaged 5.30%. A year ago, at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 2.88%.

The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 244,000 Americans (seasonally adjusted) made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday, July 9, 2022. This is an increase of 9,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 235,000.

The Associated Builders and Contractors reported on Tuesday that according to the latest member survey, conducted between June 21 and July 5, its Construction Backlog Indicator fell .01 months in June and now stands at 8.9 months. Year-over-year, the reading is up 0.4 months.

According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Application Survey, for the week ending July 8, 2022, the Market Composite Index (a measure of mortgage loan application volume) decreased 1.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 13.0% compared with the previous week.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Wednesday that the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 1.3% in June, on a seasonally adjusted basis. Over the past 12 months, the all-item index has increased 9.1% before seasonal adjustment.

The MCAI declined 0.3% to a reading of 119.6 in June. The MBA notes that a decline in the MCAI indicates that lending standards are tightening, while increases in the index are indicative of loosening credit. The index was benchmarked to 100 in March 2012.

Redfin reported on Monday that rent increases slowed in June, with the national median asking rent rising year-over-year by 14%. This is the smallest annual increase in rent since October of 2021. Between May and June, rents only increased by 0.7%, the smallest month-over-month gain since the start of the year.

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), one of the largest small business associations in the U.S., reported today (7-12-22) their NFIB Small Business Optimism Index (SBOI) for June 2022. According to the report, the June SBOI fell below the 48-year average reading of 98 for the sixth consecutive month, to a reading of 89.5 in June.

Redfin reported today (7-11-22) that approximately 60,000 home-purchase agreements were canceled in June, that is equal to 14.9% of all the homes that went under contract during the month.

On Thursday (7-7-22) afternoon, Fannie Mae released its Fannie Mae Home Purchasing Sentiment Index® (HPSI) for June. According to the report, the HPSI dropped 3.4 points to a reading of 64.8. This is the second-lowest reading in a decade.