The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 803,000 Americans made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday, December 19th. A decrease of 89,000 from the previous week’s revised level.
News in end use
U.S. Consumer Confidence Declined for Second Straight Month in December
The Conference Board is reporting that U.S. consumer confidence dropped for a second straight month in December. The result of a deterioration in the labor market amid renewed business restrictions to slow the raging pandemic offset the rolling out of a vaccine for COVID-19.
Federal Housing Authority Extends Foreclosure and Eviction Moratorium Through February 28th, 2021
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced (12/21) that the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is providing a two-month extension of its foreclosure and eviction moratorium, and initial forbearance requests through Sunday, February 28th, 2021.
U.S. Census Bureau Reports Apartment Absorption Rate Increased While Rents Declined in Q2 2020
The recently released U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Market Absorption (SOMA) reveal that the absorption rate of unfurnished, unsubsidized apartments (the share rented out in the first three months following completion) moved up to 60% in Q2 of 2020, up from 55% in Q2 of 2019.
The Share of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Increases Modestly in the Week Ending December 13th, 2020
The latest Mortgage Banker Association’s (MBA) Forbearance and Call Survey reports that the total number of loans now in forbearance increased slightly from 5.48% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 5.49% as of December 13, 2020. According to MBA’s estimate, 2.7 million homeowners are in forbearance plans.
Existing Home Sales Decline -2.5% in November – Year-Over-Year are 25.8% Better
The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) is reporting that total existing home sales for November, which are completed transaction that include single-family homes, townhomes condominiums and co-ops decreased -2.5% from October, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.69 million in November.
Zillow Research Predicting 2021 Housing Market to be Even Stronger than 2020’s
Zillow, the Seattle-based American online real estate marketplace company is predicting that the for-sale housing market which showed incredible strength in 2020, will be even stronger in 2021. In their forward-looking research Zillow expects demand to continue to stay high and is expecting a surge in cities as economies reopen.
Canadian Confidence Index Increases for Third Straight Week
The Bloomberg Nanos Canadian Confidence Index (CCI), a composite measure of Canadians financial health and economic expectations, rose for a third-straight week to 54.2 on Friday (12/18), almost exactly where it was in mid-March when widespread restrictions were imposed to limit the spread of Covid-19.
Over 50% of Houses Sold in November Evolved into a Bidding War
According to Redfin, the Seattle-based real estate brokerage firm, 53.6% of home offers written by their agents ended up in a bidding war.
Labor – The Missing Piece in the Housing Market
The missing piece in the housing market, according to Ali Wolf, chief economist at Zonda, the housing market research and real estate analytics firm, is labor.