The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is reporting that in December total nonfarm payroll employment declined by 140,000. The unemployment rate held steady at 6.7%, or 10.7 million unemployed persons.
News in end use
Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index® Declines for Second Consecutive Month
According to the Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI), consumer confidence in home-buying and home-selling declined from November’s reading of 80.0 to a reading of 74.0 in December. The HPSI is now at its lowest level since May 2020.
Mortgage Rates Set New Record Low Level in the Week Ending January 7th, 2021
Freddie Mac has released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) for the week ending January 7th, 2021. The PMMS reports that 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.65% with an average 0.7 point down from last week when it averaged 2.67%.
Job Cuts Spike in December – Up 18.9% from November
According to the latest released report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas (CG&C), Inc, a global outplacement and business and executive coaching firm, planned job cuts announced by U.S. based employers jumped to 77,030 in December. An increase of 18.9% from November’s announced cuts of 64,797.
ADP Reports Private Sector Employment Decreased by 123,000 Jobs in December
According to the August ADP National Employment Report® nonfarm private sector employment decreased by 123,000 jobs from November to December. The ADP National Employment Report is produced by the ADP Research Institute® in collaboration with Moody’s Analytics.
Mortgage Applications Dip Over the Two-Week Holiday Period
According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Application Survey, for the week ending January 1st, 2021, and includes adjustments to account for the holidays, The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume decreased -4.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis from two weeks earlier.
CoreLogic® Reports Annual Year-Over-Year U.S. Home Price Appreciation Jumped 8.2% in November
CoreLogic®, a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled solution provider released today (1-5-21) the CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI™) and HPI Forecast™ for November 2020. Year-over-year nationally home prices increased 8.2% (November 2019 – November 2020), the largest annual appreciation since March 2014.
Mortgages in Forbearance Increase Again in Week Ending December 31st, 2020
According to Black Knight, one of the premier providers of integrated technology, data and analytics solutions for lenders and financial businesses, the number of mortgages in active forbearance rose by 15,000 in the week ending on Thursday, December 31st.
November Total Private Residential Construction Spending Up 16.1% Year-Over-Year
A deeper dive into the U.S. Census Bureau’s Construction Spending data, provided by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reveals that total private residential construction spending increased 2.7% in November, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $658.1 billion.
U.S. Single-Family Homes are getting Smaller
Census Bureau’s Characteristics of New Housing shows home sizes declined in 2019 compared to 2015