News in end use

Freddie Mac on Tuesday (12-14-21) confirmed that immediate mortgage relief options for homeowners affected by the tornado outbreaks in Kentucky and surrounding areas last weekend. The disaster relief options are available to homeowners whose homes or places of employment are located in presidentially declared Major Disaster Areas where federal individual-assistance programs are made available to affected individuals and households.

Statistics Canada (StatsCan) released today (12-15-21) the Canadian Consumer Price Index (CPI) for November. The CPI rose 4.7% on a year-over-year basis in November, matching the increase in October. Excluding gasoline, the CPI rose 3.6% year over year. On a monthly basis, the CPI edged up 0.2% in November, following a 0.7% increase in October.

According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Application Survey (WMAS), for the week ending December 10, 2021, the Market Composite Index (a measure of mortgage loan application volume) decreased -4% percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased -6% compared with the previous week.

According to economists for Realtor.com, a real estate listing site owned by News Corp., the run-on home prices is almost over. Realtor.com is forecasting that over the next 12-months the median existing home sales prices will rise 2.9%. That would be a substantial slowing, as U.S. home prices year-over-year in September were up 19.5%.

Statistics Canada (StatsCan) today (12-14-21) released its Industrial Products Price Index (IPPI) for November 2021. According to the “flash estimate,” the IPPI increased 0.8% month-over-month in November. Year-over-year the IPPI was up 18.3%. Softwood lumber rose 5.3% in November, after an increase of 13.3% in October. Year over year, prices for softwood lumber were up 21.8%.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today (12-14-21) that the Producer Price Index (PPI) for final demand, seasonally adjusted, increased 0.8% in November. Final demand prices moved 0.6% higher in each of the 3 prior months. On an unadjusted basis, the final demand index rose 9.6% for the 12 months ended in November — the largest advance since 12-month data were first calculated in November 2010.

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), one of the largest small business associations in the US, reported today (12-14-21) that their NFIB Small Business Optimism Index dropped -0.2 points to a reading of 98.4 in November. Four of the 10 components improved, while 4 declined and 2 remained unchanged. The NFIB Uncertainty Index dropped -4 points to a reading of 63.

According to the latest from the Federal Reserve’s Z.1 Financial Accounts of the United States, i.e., the “Flow of Funds”, the aggregate value of all home mortgages of households and nonprofit organizations in the United States in the Q3 of 2021 registered the largest post-Great Recession numerical quarterly increase. From $11.3 trillion in Q2 of 2021, household liabilities rose by $230 billion to $11.5 trillion.

ATTOM’s Q3 2021 U.S. Residential Property Mortgage Origination Report reveals that 59 million mortgages secured by residential properties were developed in Q3. Those figures were up 3% from Q3 of 2020, but down -8% from the Q2 of 2021. This amounted to the largest quarterly decline in over a year.

Redfin, the Seattle-based, technology-powered real estate company, reported that the median home-sale price in the four-week period ending December 5, 2021 hit a new all-time record high of $360,250 — up 14% year-over-year and up 30% for the same period of time in 2019. At the same time, new listings of homes for sale were down -7% year-over-year but up 11% from 2019.