News in end use

On Monday, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) reported that builder sentiment in the market for newly built single-family homes fell 6-points lower in August to a reading of 49.

According to Redfin’s latest report, more homeowners are delaying the sales of their homes as the housing market cools, which in turn is contributing to the largest decline in home listings in over two years.

Statistics Canada reported that investment in building construction increased by 0.3% to $20.8 billion (CAD) in June. Non-residential sector gains helped to keep the overall building investment positive. June’s gains were the direct result of Ontario reporting gains in all building components.

According to the latest National Association of Home Builders Survey on loans for Acquisitions, Development, and Construction (AD&C) released on Thursday, credit became both less available and more expensive on AD&C financing during Q2 of 2022.

The University of Michigan today released its Preliminary Consumer Sentiment Index for August. The Index of Consumer Sentiment increased to a reading of 55.1 in August, up from its reading of 51.5 in July. This is a month-over-month increase of 7.0% but down 21.6% year-over-year.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today that the Producer Price Index for final demand, seasonally adjusted, declined 0.5% in July. This drop follows advances of 1.0% in June and 0.8% in May. On an unadjusted basis, final demand prices moved up 9.8% for the 12 months ending in July.

According to the latest National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index for Q2 of 2022, increasing mortgage rates, high inflation, low existing inventory, and rising home prices all caused housing affordability to fall to its lowest level since the Great Recession.

The Mortgage Bankers Association reported today its National Delinquency Survey (NDS) for Q2 of 2022. According to the NDS, the delinquency rate for mortgage loads on one-to-four-unit residential properties declined to a seasonally adjusted rate of 3.64% of all loans outstanding.

Freddie Mac has released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) for the week ending August 11, 2022. The PMMS reports that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.22% with an average 0.7 point, down from last week when it averaged 4.99%. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 2.87%.

The US Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 262,000 Americans (seasonally adjusted) made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday, August 6. This is an increase of 14,000 from the previous week’s revised lower level of 248,000. The 4-week moving average was 252,000.