Additional positive news coming from the housing industry this week, combined with continuing near record low mortgage rates, and an increase in the number of buyers who are actively pursuing the purchase of a new or existing home, provided dealers responding to our Weekly Orders Survey more reasons to remain optimistic about their near-term business activity.
News in end use
The Number of Buyers Actively Searching for Their ‘Dream Home’ Increase in Second Quarter of 2020
A deeper look into the latest National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Housing Trend Report (HTR) reveals that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, near record low mortgage rates have approximately 11% of adult Americans not only considering a future home purchase within the next year, but a majority of them are seriously and actively searching.
U.S. Unemployment for the Week Ending July 25th Up for Second Week in a Row
The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 1.434 million Americans made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday, July 25th.
Builder Confidence in 55+ Housing Market Increases in Second Quarter of 2020
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is reporting that in their 55+ Housing Market Index (HMI) builder confidence in the single-family 55+ housing market jumped 27 points to a reading of 65 in the second quarter of 2020.
Gross Domestic Product Declines -32.9% on Annualized Basis in Second Quarter of 2020
The Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) is reporting that Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is the widest measure of goods and services produced in the U.S., fell -9.5% in the second quarter of 2020.
Mortgage Rates Fall Below 3% in Week Ending 30th July
Freddie Mac has released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) for the week ending July 30th, 2020. The PMMS shows that 30-year fixed-mortgage averaged 2.99% with an average 0.8 point, down slightly from last week when it averaged 3.01%.
Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Decrease for Sixth Week in a Row
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Forbearance and Call Volume Survey for the week ending July 19th, is reporting that the total number of loans in forbearance declined by 6 basis points from 7.80% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior week to 7.74%.
Pending Homes Sales Increase 16.6% in June
The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) is reporting that their Pending Homes Sales Index (PHSI) for June increased 16.6%, to a reading of 116.1. Year-over-year, contract signings rose 6.3%.
U.S. Census Bureau Reports Homeownership Gains in Housing Vacancy Survey for Q-2 2020
The most recent U.S. Census Bureau 2020 Housing Vacancy Survey (CPS/HVS) is reporting homeownership gains, particularly of households headed by adults, 35 and younger, increased appreciably in the second quarter of 2020.
Mortgage Applications Decline in Week Ending July 24th 2020
According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Application Survey, for the week ending 24th July 2020, the Market Composite Index, measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased -0.8% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.