News in end use

Personal income increased 0.2%; disposable personal income increased 0.2%; and personal consumption expenditures increased 0.2%.

The construction sector declined 0.4% for the second consecutive month and was the largest detractor to growth in July.

Real GDP increased at an annual rate of 3.0% in Q2. This follows a reported increase of 1.6% (recently revised upward from 1.4%) in Q1.

The Pending Homes Sales Index increased 0.6% month-over-month to a reading of 70.6 in August, NAR reported. Year-over-year, pending homes sales were down 3.0%.

Combined housing starts in Canada’s 6 largest cities increased 4% to 68,639 new units, the second highest level since 1990, CMHC reported.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.08%, down from last week when it averaged 6.09%, Freddie Mac reported.

Asking rents for newly constructed apartments fell to $1,746 in Q2, down 6.2% from a year earlier and the lowest level in more than two years, Redfin reported.

The advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 218,000, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week.

The number of employees receiving pay and benefits from their employer increased 0.2% in July, following a decline of 0.1% in June.

New residential single-family home sales in August were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 716,000, down 4.7% from July.