News in end use

The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 269,000 Americans made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday, October 30, 2021. This is a decrease of 14,000 from the previous week’s revised level and the lowest level for initial job claims since March 14, 2020, when it was 256,00.

According to the latest Job Cut Report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas (CG&C) Inc., a global outplacement and business and executive coaching firm, U.S.-based employers’ announced job cuts rose by 27.5% in October to 22,822 — up from the 17,895 announced in September. This is the highest monthly total since May 2021, when 24,586 cuts were recorded.

Further data from the National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) latest Housing Trends Report (HTR) reveals that the share of prospective buyers who are actively searching for a home declined in three of the four Census regions between the Q2 and Q3 of 2021: in the South, from 58% to 51%; in the West, from 72% to 65%; and in the Northeast, from 66% to 65%.

According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Application Survey (WMAS) for the week ending October 22, 2021, the Market Composite Index — a measure of mortgage loan application volume — decreased -3.3% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased by -4% compared with the previous week.

According to the October ADP® National Employment Report™, nonfarm private sector employment increased by 571, 000 jobs from September to October. The ADP National Employment Report is produced by the ADP Research Institute® in collaboration with Moody’s Analytics. The report, which is derived from ADP’s actual payroll data, measures the change in total nonfarm private employment each month on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Statistics Canada (StatsCan) reported today (11-2-21) that the total value of building permits in Canada increased 4.3% in September 2021 to $10.1 billion (CAD). Construction intentions in the residential sector were up 8.2%, while the non-residential sector decreased 3.2%. Overall, the residential sector rose 8.2% in September to $6.9 billion.

The U.S. Census Bureau today (11-2-21) announced its Housing Vacancy Survey (CPS/HVS) for Q3 2021. CPS/HVS reveals that the U.S. homeownership rate was flat at 65.4% in Q3. The homeownership rate of 65.4% was -2.0 percentage points lower than the rate in Q3 2020 (67.4%) and virtually the same as the rate in Q2 2021 (65.4%).

The latest Mortgage Banker Association’s (MBA) Forbearance and Call Survey reports that the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 6 basis points from 2.21% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 2.15% as of October 24, 2021. According to MBA’s estimate, 1.1 million homeowners are in forbearance plans.

The U.S. Census Bureau has announced on Monday (11-1-21) that total construction spending during September 2021 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of $1,573.6 billion, -0.05% below the revised August estimate of $1,582.0 billion.

Redfin, the Seattle-based technology-powered real estate company, is reporting that during the four-week period ending October 28, 2021, one-third of homes sold in that period went under contract within seven days of hitting the market.