News in end use

Statistics Canada (StatsCan) reported today (2/26/21) that prices for products manufactured in Canada, as measured by the Industrial Product Price Index (IPPI), rose 2.0% in January. This is the result of higher prices for lumber and other wood products, as well as energy and petroleum products.

The Index of Consumer Sentiment is at a reading of 76.8. This is below January’s reading of 79.0 (-2.8%) and down from February 2020 reading of 101.0 (-24.0%).

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) on Thursday (2/25/21), announced that borrowers with mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may be eligible for an additional forbearance extension of up to six months. On February 9th, the FHFA extended forbearance plans an additional three months beyond their initial 12-month expiration.

According to the “second” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 4.1% in Q4 of 2020.

Freddie Mac has released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) for the week ending February 25th, 2021. The PMMS reports that 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.97% with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 2.81%.

The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 730,000 Americans made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday, February 20th, 2021. This is a decrease of 111,000 from the previous week’s revised level.

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 -2.8% in January to a reading of 122.8.

According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Application Survey, for the week ending February 19th, 2021, the Market Composite Index , a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased -11.4% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.

The U.S. Census Bureau is reporting that according to their estimates new residential single-family home sales for January 2021 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 923,000. This is 4.3% above the revised December rate of 885,000, and is 19.3% above the January 2020 estimate.

According to survey data gathered by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) the volume of residential construction lending posted a modest decline during Q4 of 2020. This continues a pattern of volume declines that began at the end of 2019.