News in end use

A survey indicates inflation and energy costs are impacting expected home buyers and sellers.

The National Association of Realtors report pending home sales dropped 2.2% in November.

The Case-Shiller National Home Price index shows continued gains in US home prices.

The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly announced on Thursday (12-23-21) that new residential single-family home sales for November 2021 were at a SAAR of 744,000, according to estimates. This is 12.4% above the revised October rate of 662,000 but is -14.0% below the November 2020 estimate of 865,000.

Statistics Canada (StatsCan) reported today (12-23-21) that real gross domestic product (GDP) rose 0.8% in October, following a 0.2% growth in September. The growth marks the fifth consecutive monthly gain in the GDP. Seventeen of the 20 industrial sectors posted gains in October. Construction rose 1.6% in October, following four declines in the previous five months, as all forms of construction activity were up in the month.

Freddie Mac has released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) for the week ending December 23, 2021. The PMMS reports that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.05% with an average 0.7 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.12%. A year ago, at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 2.66%.

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported on Thursday (11-23-21) that according to their estimates, personal income (PI) increased $90.4 billion, or 0.4% in November. Disposable personal income (DPI) increased $70.4 billion, or 0.4% in November. Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $104.7 billion, or 0.6% in November.

The University of Michigan today (12-23-21), released its final Consumer Sentiment Index (CSI) for December. The Index of Consumer Sentiment increased to a reading of 70.6 in December, up from 67.4 in November. This is month-over-month increase of 4.7%.

The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 205,000 Americans made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday, December 18, 2021. This is unchanged from last week’s revised level. The 4-week moving average was 206,250.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released today (12-22-21) its “third” estimate of real gross domestic product (GDP) for 2021 Q3. In the “third” estimate for the third quarter, real GDP increased 2.3% — 0.2% higher than in the “second” estimate. The estimate released today is based on more complete source data than were available for the “second” estimate, which was issued last month.