News in end use

In its latest report, Redfin, reported that for the week ending June 19, homebuying demand pulled back further as mortgage rates reached their highest level in since 2009. Redfin’s Homebuyers Demand Index—which measures buyers request for home tours, offers, and other requests for agents’ help—posted its largest decline in over 2 years.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported on Thursday that, according to its Purchase Applications Payment Index, which measures how new monthly mortgage payments vary across time (relative to income) using data from MBA’s Weekly Applications Survey, homebuyer affordability was mostly unchanged in May.

The University of Michigan today released its preliminary Consumer Sentiment Index for June. The Index of Consumer Sentiment dropped to a reading of 50.0, down from May’s reading of 58.4. This is a month-over-month decrease of -14.4% and down -41.5% year-over-year (85.5 in June 2021).

Freddie Mac has released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) for the week ending June 23, 2022. The PMMS reports that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.81% with an average 0.8 point, up from last week when it averaged 5.78%. A year ago, at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.02%.

The US Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 229,000 Americans (seasonally adjusted) made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday, June 18, 2022. This is a decline of 2,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The 4-week moving average was 223,500.

Statistics Canada reported today that 20,000 fewer Canadians, or -3.8%, received regular employment insurance benefits in April. That brought the total number of beneficiaries to 496,000. In comparison, there were 1.2 million, or -70.2%, fewer regular EI beneficiaries in April of 2022 than in May of 2021.

According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Application Survey, for the week ending June 17, the Market Composite Index increased 4.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 3.0% compared with the previous week.

A closer look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ nationwide total nonfarm payroll employment report for May and its impact on the construction sector, reveals that nonfarm payroll employment increased in 32 states and the District of Columbia, compared to April, while 18 states lost jobs.

Statistics Canada (StatsCan) reported today (6-22-22) that Canadians continued to feel the pinch of increasing prices in May, as consumer inflation rose 7.7% year-over-year. This is the largest yearly jump since January 1983 and is up from April’s 6.8% increase.

The National Association of Realtors® reported on Tuesday that total existing home sales declined in three out of the four reporting regions in May, falling by -3.4% from April to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.41 million homes. This marks the fourth consecutive month of declining sales.