News in end use

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 7.17%, up from last week when it averaged 7.10%, Freddie Mac reported.

GDP increased at an annual rate of 1.6% in Q1, following a reported real GDP increase of 3.4% in 2023Q4.

The advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 207,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week.

The number of Canadian employees receiving pay and benefits from their employers fell by 17,700, or 0.1%, in February.

Annual expenditures for improvements and repairs to owner-occupied homes are projected to decrease this year and into 2025Q1, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.

Mortgage loan application volume decreased 2.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier, MBA reported.

New residential single-family home sales for March were at a SAAR of 693,000, 8.8% above the revised February rate of 637,000.

US home prices climbed 0.6% month-over-month, repeating February’s gain, the Redfin Home Price Index showed.

According to the ESR Group, stronger than expected economic and inflation data have pushed rates higher and financial markets to price in fewer cuts this year.

Total commercial real estate mortgage borrowing and lending is estimated to have totaled $429 billion in 2023, a 47% decline from 2022, MBA reported.