News in end use

Total existing-home sales declined 0.7% in May from April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.11 million, MBA reported.

Privately‐owned housing starts in May were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,277,000. This is 5.5% below the revised April estimate of 1,352,000.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.87%, down from last week when it averaged 6.95%, Freddie Mac reported.

The national index increased 0.2% month-over-month in May, and prices were up in 10 of the 27 census metropolitan areas (CMAs) surveyed.

456,000 Canadians received regular Employment Insurance (EI) benefits in April. This is down 2.8%, or 13,000 recipients, from March.

The advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 238,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week.

New analysis from Zillow released on Tuesday shows that, despite a construction boom brought on by the pandemic, the US housing shortage grew to 4.5 million homes in 2022, up from 4.3 million in 2021.

The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index reported that builder sentiment in the market for newly built single-family homes fell 2 points from May to a reading of 43 in June.

US existing-home prices rose 0.3% month-over-month in May—the smallest increase on a seasonally adjusted basis since January 2023—Redfin reported.

The level of commercial/multifamily debt outstanding increased 0.9% to $40.1 billion in Q1, MBA reported.