News in end use

Residential building construction costs increased 0.8% in Q1, following a 1.1% increase in 2024Q4.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 7.22%, up from last week when it averaged 7.17%, Freddie Mac reported.

Construction sector employment is cooling in step with other sectors of the US job market, the BLS and NAHB reported.

The advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 208,000 during the week ending April 27th, unchanged from the previous week’s revised level.

US-based employers announced 64,789 job cuts in April, a 28% decline from the 90,309 job cuts reported in March, Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported.

According to the  ADP® National Employment Report™, released on Wednesday (5-3-24), private sector employment increased by 192,000 jobs in April and annual pay was up 5.0%, year-over-year.

According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA), for the week ending Friday, April 26, 2024, the Market Composite Index decreased 2.3% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 1.4% compared with the previous week.

According to the JOLTS report, as of the last business day in March the number of job openings was 8.5 million, little changed from the 8.8 million reported in February. The job opening rate was 5.1% down from the 5.3% reported in February. 

On Wednesday (5-1-24), The U.S. Census Bureau reported that total construction spending during March 2024 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of $2,083.9 billion, 0.2% below the revised February estimate of $2,087.8 billion.

According to the report national vacancy rates in Q1 2024 were 6.6% for rental housing and 0.8% for homeowner housing. The rental vacancy rate was not statistically different from the rate in Q1 2023 when it was at 6.4%, and virtually the same as the rate in the Q4 2023 reported as 6.6%.