Freddie Mac has released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) for the week ending February 3, 2022. The PMMS reports that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.55% with an average 0.8 point, unchanged from last week. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 2.73%.
Wood Markets News
Weekly Jobless Claims Decline for Second Consecutive Week in the Week Ending January 29, 2022
The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 238,000 Americans made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday, January 29, 2022. This is a decrease of 23,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The 4-week moving average was 255,000.
U.S.-Based Employers Job Cut Report Little Changed Month-Over-Month in January 2022
According to the latest Job Cut Report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas (CG&C), Inc, a global outplacement and business and executive coaching firm, job cuts announced by US-based employers in January 2022 were almost identical to the December 2021 levels. January’s job cuts were 19,064 — up 0.063% from December’s 19,052.
Stora Enso Investing 40 Million Euros in New Technology and Restructuring of Fluff Pulp Production
Stora Enso has announced that it will be investing 40 million Euros in new technology and restructuring of its fluff pulp production site in Skutskär, Sweden. The investment will enable the number of bleach lines to be reduced from three to two, improving cost competitiveness and creating opportunities for future development.
Canadian Building Permits Decline in December
Statistics Canada (StatsCan) reported today (2-2-22) that the total value of building permits decreased -1.9% to $11.2 billion (CAD) in December. Declines were reported in both the residential and non-residential sectors. On a constant dollar basis (2012=100), the total value of building permits decreased -3.1%.
New White Paper Released on Mass Timber Construction in the UK
The RICAAuthority, an annually funded research scheme supported by 24 major United Kingdom insurers, has just released a new white paper on mass timber construction in the UK. The report, “Insurance Challenges of Massive and Mass Timber Construction,” is recommending that hybrid structures combining traditional and modern method of construction may represent the best route forward to satisfying multiple considerations including insurance risks and carbon reduction.
Residential Vacancies and Homeownership Statistics Released for Q4 2021
The national vacancy rates in Q4 2021 were 5.6% for rental housing and 0.9% for homeowner housing. The rental vacancy rate was -0.9 percentage points lower than the rate in Q4 2020 of 6.5% and not statistically different from the rate in the Q3 2021 of 5.8%. The homeowner vacancy rate of 0.9% was -0.1 percentage points lower than the rate in Q4 2020 of 1.0% and was the same as the rate in Q3 2021, 0.9%.
Mortgage Applications Increase in the Week Ending January 28, 2022
According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Application Survey (WMAS), for the week ending January 28, 2022, the Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 12.0% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.
ADP Reports Private Sector Employment Experienced a Setback in January
According to the January ADP® National Employment Report™, nonfarm private sector employment decreased by -301,000 jobs from December to January. The ADP National Employment Report is produced by the ADP Research Institute® in collaboration with Moody’s Analytics.
New Sawmill to Help Residents in the Path of the Dixie Fire Rebuild and Recover
Last summer, Indian Valley and the towns of Greenville, Taylorsville, and Crescent Mills were right in the middle of the largest single-source fires and one of the most destructive blazes in California’s history. The Dixie Fire ran flames up and down the surrounding hills and pushed, at times, onto the valley floor.