News in end use

According to the latest National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) / Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI), housing affordability modestly declined during Q1 of 2021. This is the result of rising material costs and supply shortages, along with increased mortgage rates, all of which signaled affordability challenges for the remainder of the year.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is reporting that total nonfarm payroll employment in April increased by 266,000 following increases of 770,000 in March and 536,000 in February. In April, nonfarm employment was down by 8.2 million, or 5.4%, from its pre-pandemic level in February 2020.

According to a recent survey conducted by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), which happens to coincide with start of National Remodeling month in May, confidence in the remodeling market continues to increase. In the survey, 5% of remodelers reported that more than half of their projects in 2020 were a direct consequence of the pandemic.

Freddie Mac has released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) for the week ending May 6, 2021. The PMMS reports that 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.96% percent with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 2.98%.

According to the latest released Job-Cut Report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas (CG&C), Inc, a global outplacement and business and executive coaching firm, planned job cuts announced by U.S.-based employers fell 25% in April to 22,913 from the 30,603 announced in March.

The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 498,000 Americans made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday, May 1, 2021 — a decrease of 92,000 from the previous week’s revised level. This is the lowest level for this average of initial claims since March 14, 2020, when it was 256,000.

According to Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) analysis of data published by the U.S. Census Bureau, national nonresidential construction decreased 1.1% in March. On a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, nonresidential spending totaled $778.5 billion in March.

According to the April ADP® National Employment Report™, nonfarm private sector employment private sector employment increased by 742,000 jobs from March to April. The ADP National Employment Report is produced by the ADP Research Institute® in collaboration with Moody’s Analytics.

According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Application Survey for the week ending April 30, 2021, the Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased -0.9% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased -1% compared with the previous week.

Realtor.com is reporting that the number of new homes for sale rose in April 2021, compared to last year, when most cites had shelter-in-place orders in effect. Nevertheless, the number of new listing is still nearly 26% below pre-pandemic levels.