News in end use

According to builders and developers responding to the National Association of Builder’s Survey on Acquisition, Development & Construction (AD&C) Financing continued to report declining interest rates in Q1 of 2021.

Redfin, the Seattle-based technology powered real estate brokerage, is reporting that for the 4-week period ending on May 23, 2021, a record high of 51% of homes sold for more than their list price — up from 26% from a year ago.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) today, Friday, May 28, 2021, reported that according to their latest estimates that Personal Income decreased $3.21 trillion or -13.1% in April. Disposable Personal Income (DPI) decreased $3.22 trillion, or -14.6%; and Person Consumption Expenditures (PCE) increased $80.3 billion or 0.5%.

The University of Michigan released today (5-28-21) its final Index of Consumer Sentiment (ICS) for May 2021. Month-over-month, the ICS declined -6.1% from 88.3 in April to 82.9 in May. When compared to May 2020, the ICS increased 14.7% from May 2020 reading of 72.3.

The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) has reported their Pending Homes Sales Index (PHSI) — which is based on signed real estate contracts, not actual closings, for existing single-family homes, condos, and co-ops — declined -4.4% in April 2021 to a reading of 106.2. The PHSI has now declined three out of the past four months.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released today (5-27-21) its “second” estimate of real gross domestic product (GDP) for Q1 if 2020. BEA reports it at an annual rate of 6.4%. This is unchanged from their initial “advance” estimate released last month.

Freddie Mac has released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) for the week ending May 27, 2021. The PMMS reports that 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.95% with an average 0.7 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.00%. A year ago, at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.15%.

The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 406,000 Americans made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday, May 22, 2021 — a decrease of 38,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level.

According to the latest affordability report from First American Financial Corporation and its Chief Economist Mark Fleming, housing affordability on an annual basis declined in March for the first time since January 2019, signaling the end of a more than two-year streak of rising affordability.

Analysis of the most recent 2019 American Community Survey (ACS) data provided by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reveals that the median age of construction workers is 41, the same as typical worker in the national labor force.