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.
News in end use
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%.
Weekly Jobless Claims Decline for the Week Ending September 12th, 2020
The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 860,000 Americans made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday September 12th.
Single-Family Housing Starts and Permits Up Year-Over-Year in August
The U.S. Census Bureau has reported that privately‐owned housing starts in August were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 1,416,000. This is -5.1% below the revised July estimate of 1,492,000, but is 2.8% above the August 2019 rate.