News in end use

According to the March ADP® National Employment Report™, nonfarm private sector employment private sector employment increased by 517,000 jobs from February to March. The ADP National Employment Report is produced by the ADP Research Institute® in collaboration with Moody’s Analytics.

According to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index report, which covers all nine U.S. Census divisions, home prices gained 11.2% in January (on an annual basis), up from 10.4% increase in December 2020. The 10-City Composite annual increase came in at 10.9%, up from 9.9% in the previous month.

According to the latest Federal Housing Finance Agency’s House Price Index (FHFA HPI®), house prices rose nationwide in January, up 1.0% from the December 2020 reading. Year-over-year house prices have increased 12.0% (January 2020 to January 2021).

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.