News in end use

Builder sentiment in the market for newly built single-family homes rose in January, according to the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index.

The NAHB/Westlake Royal Remodeling Market Index posted a reading of 68 in Q4, a 5-point gain from the previous quarter.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 7.04%, up from last week when it averaged 6.93%, Freddie Mac reported.

Advertised asking rents declined $4 to $1,742 in December, Yardi reported. Year-over-year, growth slowed to 0.6%, the 16th consecutive month with increases below 1%.

The advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial unemployment claims was 217,000, an increase of 14,000 from the previous week’s revised level.

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 0.4% on a seasonally adjusted basis in December, following a 0.3% increase in November.

Sales were down 5.8% compared to November but still stand 13.0% above May, just before the first rate cut by the Bank of Canada, CREA reported.

Mortgage loan application volume increased 33.3% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier, MBA reported.

The price of goods used in residential construction grew 1.7% in 2024, slightly higher than the 1.0% growth in 2023, the BLS and NAHB reported.

The seasonally adjusted Producer Price Index (PPI) for final demand rose 0.2% in December, following an increase of 0.4% in November.