News in end use

The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 411,000 Americans made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday June 19, 2021 — a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The 4-week moving average was 397,750 — an increase of 1,500 from the previous week’s revised average.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported that new residential single-family home sales for May 2021 were at a SAAR of 769,000, according to estimates. This is -5.9% below the revised April rate of 817,000 but is 9.2% above the May 2020 estimate of 704,000.

According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Application Survey, for the week ending June 18, 2021, the Market Composite Index — a measure of mortgage loan application volume — increased by 2.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 1% compared with the previous week.

The latest Mortgage Banker Association’s (MBA) Forbearance and Call Survey reports that the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 11 basis points from 4.04% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 3.93% as of June 13, 2021. According to MBA’s estimate, 2 million homeowners are in forbearance plans.

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, declined in May for the fourth straight month, down -0.9% below April to a seasonally adjusted rate at 5.80 million homes. Year-over-year sales are up 44.6% (4.01 million May 2020).

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which regulates Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the 11 Federal Home Loan Banks, today (6-22-21) released their Q1 2021 Foreclosure Prevention and Refinance Report (FPRR), which shows that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) completed 224,646 foreclosure prevention actions in Q1 of 2021, bringing the total number of homeowners who have been helped during conservatorships to 5.812 million.

According to the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic (BLS) Producer Price Index (PPI) with further analysis provided by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the price paid for good used in residential constructions, less energy, rose 3.6% in May (not seasonally adjusted) and over the past 12 months have increased 16.5%.

Redfin, the Seattle-based technology powered real estate brokerage firm, is reporting that their Homebuyer Demand Index was down -14% from its peak 9 weeks ago and pending sales have declined -10% from their early-May peak. For the 4-week period ending June 13, 2021, Redfin is reporting that the asking price of newly listed homes were up 14% year-over-year, to a median of $363,450, down -0.2% from $364,225 during the 4-weeks period ending June 6, 2021.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Builder Application Survey (BAS) data for May 2021, mortgage applications for new home purchases decreased -5.9% compared from a year ago. Compared to April 2021, applications decreased by -9%. This change does not include any adjustment for typical seasonal patterns.

A report released on Wednesday (6-16-21) by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS), titled “The State of the Nation’s Housing 2021,” reveals that as the U.S. economy continues to recover from the effects of the pandemic, households that weathered the crisis without financial distress are snapping up the limited supply of homes for sale — pushing up prices and further excluding less affluent buyers from homeownership.