The latest Mortgage Banker Association’s (MBA) Forbearance and Call Survey reports that the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 9 basis points from 5.14% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 5.05% as of March 14, 2021.
News in end use
New Home Sales Decline -18.2 % February but are up Year-Over-Year 8.2%
The U.S. Census Bureau reported that new residential single-family home sales for February 2021 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 775,000, according to estimates. This is -18.2% below the revised January 2021 rate of 948,000 but is 8.2% above the February 2020 estimate of 716,000.
Existing Homes Sales Drop 6.6% in February but Year-Over-Year are up 9.1%
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 — in February were -6.6% below January to a seasonally adjusted rate at 6.22 million homes.
Year-Over-Year Home Prices Post 17% Increase While Active Listings Decline by 42%
Redfin, the Seattle-based technology-powered real estate brokerage company, is reporting that for the 4-week period ending on March 14, 2021, the median home sales price increased 17% year-over-year to $330,250 — an all-time record in this data set, which dates back through 2016.
Canadian Employment Loses 108,000 Jobs Between January and February 2021
According to the ADP® February 2021 Canada National Employment Report, which is produced by the ADP Research Institute®, employment in Canada decreased by 108,000 jobs from January to February. The report, which is derived from actual ADP payroll data, measures the change in total nonfarm payroll employment each month on a seasonally adjusted basis.
Weekly Jobless Claims Increase in the Week Ending March 13, 2021
The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 770,000 Americans made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday March 13, 2021 — an increase of 45,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The 4-week moving average was 746,250, a decrease of 16,000 from the previous week’s revised average.
The Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index® Increases in February
The Conference Board, which was founded in 1916 as a non-partisan, not-for-profit think tank, released today (3-18-22) their February 2021, Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for the U.S. According to the release, the LEI which is based on ten separate components increased 0.2% in February, following a 0.5% increase in January and a 0.4% increase in December.
30-Year Mortgage Rate Ticks Higher in the Week Ending March 18, 2021
Freddie Mac has released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) for the week ending 18th March 2021. The PMMS reports that 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.09% with an average 0.7 point, up from last week when it averaged 3.05%.
Higher Interest Rates Will Eliminate Many Would be Home Buyers from the Marketplace
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) 2021 Priced-Out-Estimates reports that 75.1 million U.S. households are unable to afford a median priced new home and that an additional ~154,000 would be priced out if the price of a home were to go up by $1,000.
Canadian Consumer Price Index Rises at a Faster Pace Year-Over-Year in February
Statistics Canada (StatsCan) is reporting the Canadian Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose at a faster pace year-over-year in February (+1.1%) than in January (+1.0%). The increase in gasoline prices (+5.0%) led to consumer price growth in February. Excluding gasoline, the CPI rose 1.0% in February, down from a 1.3% increase in January.