News in end use

At its FOMC meeting, the Federal Reserve decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 4.25–4.50%.

The Bank of Canada has reduced its target for the overnight rate to 3.0%, with the Bank Rate at 3.25% and the deposit rate at 2.95%.

Construction sector employment (both residential and nonresidential) increased in 26 states in December. Overall, the industry added a net 8,000 jobs.

Mortgage loan application volume decreased 2.0% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier, MBA reported.

FHFA reported that according to its seasonally adjusted House Price Index, US home prices rose 0.3% in November. Year-over-year, prices rose 4.2%.

The Consumer Confidence Index declined 5.4 points to a reading of 104.1 in January. December’s reading was revised up by 4.8 points to a reading of 109.5.

The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller US National Home Price NSA Index posted an annual gain of 3.8% in November, up from a gain of 3.6% in October.

New residential single-family home sales for December were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 698,000.

CREA recently released its updated existing-home sales forecast for 2025, but it was little changed from the fall 2024 outlook.

Existing-home sales rose 2.2% in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.24 million.