News in end use

According to the “second” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 6.6% in Q2 of 2021. In Q1 of 2021, the real GDP increased 6.3%.

Freddie Mac has released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) for the week ending August 19, 2021. The PMMS reports that 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.87% with an average 0.6 point — up slightly from last week when it averaged 2.86%.

The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 353,000 Americans made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday, August 21, 2021. This is an increase of 4,000 from the previous week’s revised level.

According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Application Survey (WMAS), for the week ending August 20, 2021, the Market Composite Index (a measure of mortgage loan application volume) increased 1.6% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 1% compared with the previous week.

The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly reported that new residential single-family home sales for July 2021 were at a SAAR of 708,000, according to estimates. This is 1.0% above the revised June rate of 701,000 but is -27.2% below the July 2020 estimate of 972,000.

Quarterly U.S. Census Bureau data, with analysis provided by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), reveals that the market share of rental units of multifamily construction starts remained elevated at a reading of 95.2% during Q2 of 2021.

The latest Mortgage Banker Association’s (MBA) Forbearance and Call Survey reports that the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 1 basis point from 3.26% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 3.25% as of August 15, 2021. According to MBA’s estimate, 1.6 million homeowners are in forbearance plans.

Zillow®, the Seattle-based, online real estate marketplace company, revealed in their latest housing market report that a strong and widespread recovery of rents has pushed prices beyond where they would have been had the COVID-19 pandemic never have occurred. Nationally, typical monthly rents rose to $1,843 in July, surpassing June’s record appreciation and rising 9.2%, or $156, above July 2020.

On Monday, the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) reported that total existing home sales, which are completed transactions for single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, increased 2.0% from June to a seasonally adjusted rate at 5.99 million homes in July. This marks the second consecutive month of increases. Year-over-year sales are up 1.5% (5.90 million July 2020).

A closer look at the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics nationwide total nonfarm payroll for July, with a specific focus on construction employment and analysis provided by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), reveals that across the 48 states which reported construction sector jobs data — which includes both residential as well as non-residential construction — 29 states reported an increase in July compared to June, while 17 states lost construction sector jobs.