News in end use

The Conference Board, a non-partisan, not-for-profit think tank founded in 1916, released today (2-23-21) their Consumer Confidence Index® (CCI), which surged in March to its highest reading in a year after a modest increase in February.

The latest Mortgage Banker Association’s (MBA) Forbearance and Call Survey reports that the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 9 basis points from 5.05% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 4.96% as of March 21, 2021.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has released the February 2021 State Employment and Unemployment report. This news release presents statistics from two monthly programs. The civilian labor force and unemployment data are modeled based largely on a survey of households. According to the BLS, unemployment rates were lower in February in 23 states and D.C., higher in 4 states, and stable in 23 states.

With the renter eviction moratorium set to expire at the end of March, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced today, Monday, March 29, 2021, that it is extending an order aimed at preventing evictions through June.

According to Redfin, the technology-powered real estate brokerage, for the past 4-week period, which ended on March 21, the median home sales price increased year-over-year (YOY) by 16% to an all-time high record of $331,590.

A new report recently released by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, “Improving America’s Housing 2021,” reveals that while the U.S. economy contracted by -3.5% in 2020, spending on home improvements and repairs increased more than 3% to nearly $ 420 billion — the result of households altering living spaces for work, school, and family time in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The recently-published New York Federal Reserve Bank, December Household Spending Survey — with additional analysis provided by the National Home Builders Association — reveals a modest increase in household spending over the past four months (September through December), and a noticeable increase in the median expectation for year-ahead household spending to highest level since August 2015.

The University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers chief economist, Richard Curtin, is reporting that Consumer Sentiment continued to rise in late March, reaching its highest level in a year due to the third disbursement of relief checks and better than anticipated vaccination progress. As prospects for obtaining vaccination have grown, so too has people’s impatience with isolation, as those concerns were voiced by nearly one-third of consumers in March, the highest level in the past year.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) today, Friday, March 26, 2021, reported that according to their latest estimates personal income decreased $1,516.6 billion or -7.1% in February. Disposable personal income (DPI) decreased $1,532.3 billion or -8.0% and person consumption expenditures (PCE) decreased $149.0 billion or -1.0%.

The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 684,000 Americans made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday March 20, 2021 — an increase of 97,000 from the previous week’s revised level.