The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 787,000 Americans made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday, October 17th. A decrease of 55,000 from the previous week’s revised level.
Wood Markets News
Canada’s Inflation Rate up in September but Retail Sales Remain a Concern
According to a report from Statistics Canada, Canada’s annual rate of inflation accelerated in September. The annual rate of inflation to 0.5% in September, up from 0.1% in August and just ahead of analyst expectations of 0.4%, driven by transportation, recreation and higher prices for new housing.
Mortgage Rates Hit New Record Lows in Week Ending 22nd October 2020
Freddie Mac has released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) for the week ending 22nd October 2020. The PMMS shows that 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.80% with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 2.81%.
FEA’s Weekly Orders Survey Participants Encouraged by Another Increase in Builder Confidence and Strong September Housing Starts and Permits
Dealers responding to FEA’s Weekly Orders Survey could not help but comment favorably on the Builder Confidence report for October, with the reading moving to a new record high of 85.
Existing-Home Sales Climb 9.4% in September to 6.5 Million
The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) is reporting that total existing-home sales, completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, increased 9.4% from August to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 6.5 million in September.
Swedish Sawmilling Group Ramps Up Production to Meet Global Demand and Product Shortages
To meet growing global demand and product shortages, Swedish sawmilling group Setra, announced in their Q3 results publication, that they plan to fully ramp up production during the fall.
Significant Improvements to New Brunswick Wood Market Benchmark Announced
According to Auditor General Kim Adair-MacPherson, a major irritant that helped to provoke US tariffs has been fixed and with it a potential lifeline to the New Brunswick (NB) forest industry. Her report released on Tuesday (10/20) says the province now has a better system for accurately calculating sales to mills from private woodlots, a benchmark that helps set royalties paid for timber from publicly owned Crown lands.
Mobile Sawmill Helps Homeowners Turn Downed Trees into Lumber Products in N.W. Florida
Mike Smidt owns a mobile sawmill. With the help of his sons and father they have been working every weekend since Hurricane Sally hit Northwest Florida and toppled a lot of tree.
Canadian Home Prices Rise 1.1% in September
According to the Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index (CHPI), which tracks data collected from public land registries to measure changes for repeat sales of single-family homes, Canadian home prices rose 1.1% in September 2020 when compared to August 2020. Making this the second strongest September on record.
Mortgage Applications Drop -0.6% in Week Ending 16th October 2020
According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Application Survey, for the week ending October 16th, 2020, The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased -0.6% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.