News in end use

The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) reported on Friday (2-25-22) that their Pending Homes Sales Index (PHSI), which is based on signed real estate contracts, not actual closings, for existing single-family homes, condominiums, and co-ops, declined -5.7% in January 2022 (from December 2021) to a reading of 109.5.

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported on Friday (2-25-22) that, according to estimates, personal income increased $9.0 billion (less than 0.1%) in January. Disposable personal income increased $19.8 billion (0.1%). Personal consumption expenditures increased $337.2 billion (2.1%).

The University of Michigan today (2-25-22) released its final Consumer Sentiment Index (CSI) for February. The Index of Consumer Sentiment declined to a reading of 62.8 in February, down from 67.2 in January. This is a month-over-month decrease of -6.5% and down -18.2% year-over-year (76.8 in February 2021).

On Thursday (2-24-22), the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly announced that new residential single-family home sales for January 2022 were at a SAAR of 801,000, according to estimates. This is -4.5% below the revised December rate of 839,000.

According to the latest results from the National Association of Home Builder’s (NAHB) Multifamily Market Survey (MMS), in Q4 of 2021, confidence in the market for new multifamily housing improved. The Multifamily Production Index increased 1 point to a reading of 54 from Q3. The Multifamily Occupancy Index declined six points to a reading of 69.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released today (2-24-22) its “second estimate” of real gross domestic product (GDP) for Q4 2021. BEA reports GDP increased at an annual rate of 7.0%. In Q3 2021, the real GDP increased 2.3%.

Freddie Mac has released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) for the week ending February 24, 2022. The PMMS reports that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.89% with an average 0.8 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.92%. A year ago, at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 2.97%.

The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 232,000 Americans made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday, February 19, 2022. This is a decrease of 17,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The 4-week moving average was 236,250.

A closer look at the U.S. Census Bureau’s Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design data, with further analysis provided by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), reveals that the market share of rental units of multifamily construction starts increased to 94.2% during Q4 2021. In comparison, the historical low was set during Q3 2005.

According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Application Survey (WMAS), for the week ending February 18, 2022, the Market Composite Index (a measure of mortgage loan application volume) decreased -13.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.