News in end use

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released today (6-24-21) its “third” estimate of real gross domestic product (GDP) for Q1 if 2020, reporting it was at an annual rate of 6.4%. This is the same level as in the previously reported “advance” and “second” estimates.

A deeper look into the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) nationwide total of nonfarm payroll employment for May, with analysis provided by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), reveals that nonfarm payroll employment increased in 33 states and the District of Columbia in May, when compared to April, while 16 states lost jobs.

Freddie Mac has released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) for the week ending June 24, 2021. The PMMS reports that 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.02% with an average 0.7 point, up from last week when it averaged 2.93%. A year ago, at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.13%.

The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 411,000 Americans made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday June 19, 2021 — a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The 4-week moving average was 397,750 — an increase of 1,500 from the previous week’s revised average.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported that new residential single-family home sales for May 2021 were at a SAAR of 769,000, according to estimates. This is -5.9% below the revised April rate of 817,000 but is 9.2% above the May 2020 estimate of 704,000.

According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Application Survey, for the week ending June 18, 2021, the Market Composite Index — a measure of mortgage loan application volume — increased by 2.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 1% compared with the previous week.

The latest Mortgage Banker Association’s (MBA) Forbearance and Call Survey reports that the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 11 basis points from 4.04% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 3.93% as of June 13, 2021. According to MBA’s estimate, 2 million homeowners are in forbearance plans.

The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) is reporting that total existing home sales, which are completed transactions for single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, declined in May for the fourth straight month, down -0.9% below April to a seasonally adjusted rate at 5.80 million homes. Year-over-year sales are up 44.6% (4.01 million May 2020).

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which regulates Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the 11 Federal Home Loan Banks, today (6-22-21) released their Q1 2021 Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report (FPRR), which shows that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) completed 224,646 foreclosure prevention actions in Q1 of 2021, bringing the total number of homeowners who have been helped during conservatorships to 5.812 million.

According to the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic (BLS) Producer Price Index (PPI) with further analysis provided by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the price paid for good used in residential constructions, less energy, rose 3.6% in May (not seasonally adjusted) and over the past 12 months have increased 16.5%.