News in end use

The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 251,000 Americans (seasonally adjusted) made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday, July 16, 2022. This is an increase of 7,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 244,000.

Statistics Canada reported on Wednesday that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) continues to rise. Driven by inflation, it rose 8.1% year-over-year in June, following a 7.7% increase in May. The June CPI increase was the largest year-over-year increase since January 1983.

The National Association of Realtors® reported on Wednesday that total existing home sales declined in three out of the four reporting regions in June. Sales were down by 5.4% from May to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.12 million homes.

According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Application Survey, for the week ending July 15, 2022, the Market Composite Index (a measure of mortgage loan application volume) decreased 6.3% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported on Tuesday that privately‐owned housing starts in June were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,559,000; this is 2.0% below the revised May estimate of 1,591,000 and 6.3% below the June 2021 rate of 1,664,000. Single-family housing starts in June were at a rate of 982,000; this is 8.1% below the revised May figure of 1,068,000.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released on Tuesday the results of its Builder Application Survey (BAS) data for June 2022. The BAS reveals that mortgage applications for new home purchases declined 10% month-over-month and 12% year-over-year in June. These changes do not include any adjustments.

According to the new monthly Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Loan Monitoring Survey (LMS), the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 4 basis points, from 0.855% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior month to 0.81% as of June 30, 2022.

According to the latest release from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the trend in housing starts increased from 252,444 units in May to 258,295 units in June, an increase of 5,851 units. This trend measure is a six-month average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts in Canada.

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index reported today that builder sentiment in the market for newly built single-family homes tumbled 12 points lower in July to a reading of 55. This marks the seventh consecutive month of declines, and with the exception of April 2020, is the lowest reading since June 2020.

The Canadian Real Estate Association reported on Friday that home sales recorded on the Canadian MLS® Systems fell by 5.6% between May and June 2022. Year-over-year, the actual (not seasonally adjusted) number of transactions in June 2022 came in 23.9% below June 2021 levels.