According to the second quarter of 2020 Federal Reserve Flow of Funds Report, the COVID-19 pandemic did not impact household’s market values. On the contrary, household market values continued to rise throughout all of Q2 of 2020.
News in end use
Construction Time to Build a New Single-Family Home Increases in Latest U.S. Census Bureau Survey
The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 Survey of Construction (SOC) is reporting that the average time from start to completion of a single-family house was around 8.1 months.
U.S. Forest Service Announces the Re-Opening of Nine of the Eighteen Closed California National Forests in Varying Degrees
The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) announced on Saturday that they were opening 9 of the 18 California National Forests, after having shut them all down to “unprecedented’ fire dangers earlier in the month.
U.S. Retail Sales and Consumer Spending Slowed in August
According to a recent report from the U.S. Commerce Department, U.S. consumer spending slowed in August.
Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Decreases for 14th Week in a Row
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest Forbearance and Call Volume Survey revealed that the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 15 basis points from 7.16% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 7.01% as of September 6, 2020.
Renters Continue to Struggle to Pay Their Rent on Time
According to Apartment List’s Rent Payment Survey (RPS) data, in spite of a slight improvement in numbers, for this month, 29% of Americans failed to pay their rent or mortgages in full during the first week of September and 8% had not yet completed their August payments by the end of the month.
This Week’s FEA Weekly Order Survey Participants Report Overall Steady Sales
Dealers who respond to the FEA Weekly Order Survey have local, regional and in many instances national footprints. Overall, our survey participants continue to report that their sales to builders, contractors and remodelers remain steady.
First-Time Home Buyer Activity Declined in Q2 2020
According to Genworth Mortgage Insurance (GMI), an operating segment of Genworth Financial, first-time home buyer activity decreased in the second quarter due to the pandemic, but overall it still remains active.
Single-Family Rent Prices Increase 1.7% in July, First Upward Movement Since Start of Pandemic
CoreLogic, the Irvine, California based corporation providing financial, property, and consumer information, analytics, and business intelligence has released their latest Single-Family Rent Index (SFRI) for July.
Mortgage Rates Move Slightly Higher for the Week Ending September 17th, 2020
Freddie Mac has released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) for the week ending September 17th, 2020. The PMMS shows that 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.87% with an average 0.8 point, up slightly from last week when it averaged 2.86%.