The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) / Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) reports that strong buyer demand pushed builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes up 1-point to a reading of 83.
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30-Year Mortgage Rate Dips for Second Week in a Row in the Week Ending April 15, 2021
Freddie Mac has released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) for the week ending April 15, 2021. The PMMS reports that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.04% with an average 0.7 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.13%.
Weekly Jobless Claims Decline in the Week Ending April 10, 2021
The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 576,000 Americans made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday April 10, 2021 — a decrease of 193,000 from the previous week’s revised level.
Mortgage Applications Decline for Sixth Consecutive Week in the Week Ending April 9, 2021
According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Application Survey, for the week ending April 9, 2021, the Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased -3.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased -3% compared with the previous week.
Homes Continue to Sell in Record Time and at a Record Price, But Are We Near the Peak?
Redfin, the Seattle-based, technology powered real estate brokerage is reporting that for the 4-week period ending on April 4, 2021, the median home-sale price has increased year-over-year (y-o-y) 17% to $338,225, setting yet another new all-time record high. The asking prices of newly listed homes rose 16% y-o-y, to $ 351,851, an all-time high, but were flat from the four-week period ending March 28, 2021.
Shares of Mortgages in Forbearance Decline for Sixth Straight Week in Week Ending April 4, 2021
The latest Mortgage Banker Association’s (MBA) Forbearance and Call Survey reports that the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 24 basis points from 4.90% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 4.66% as of April 4, 2021. According to MBA’s estimate, 2.3 million homeowners are in forbearance plans.
Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers Increased Year-Over-Year 2.6% and 0.6% in March
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is reporting that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.6% in March, on a seasonally adjusted basis, after rising 0.4% in February and 0.3% in January.
Small Business Optimism Index Increases in March
The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), one of the largest small business associations in the U.S., is reporting that their NFIB Small Business Optimism Index rose 2.4 points in March to a reading of 98.2. March’s reading is the first return to the historical reading since last November.
Residential Construction Investment in Canada Sets New Record High Level in February
Statistics Canada (StatsCan) is reporting that record levels have been reported for investment in residential construction since September 2020, and they reached a new record high of $12.3 billion in February 2021. A majority of the growth is coming from single-family home construction, which rose for a fifth consecutive month, up 9.4% to $6.7 billion in February.
Available Homes For Sale Inventory Drops to New Record Low Levels in March
According to HouseCanary’s latest Market Pulse Report (MPR), homes for sale listings volume are down -11.5% year-over-year. In the month of March 2021, 284,298 net new listings were placed on the market, a -0.9% decrease over March 2020. In addition, there were 348,422 listings that went under contract nationwide, which is a 22.7% increase versus March 2020.