China officially announced a ban of logs shipped from Victoria.
Wood Markets News
Foreclosures Increase in October, Despite Ongoing Moratorium
ATTOM Data Solutions, a multi-sourced national property database, is reporting that despite a moratorium on foreclosures, in October, 6,042 U.S. properties were in the early phase of the foreclosure process. That is number is up 21% from September but remain -79% below the October 2019 level.
Consumer Price Index Unchanged in October
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is reporting that the Consumer Price Index (CPI), excluding the volatile food and energy components (“core” CPI) was unchanged in October on a seasonally adjusted basis after rising 0.2% in September.
Builder Activity Close to Traditional Mid-November Levels
Dealers responding to FEA’s Weekly Order Survey are reporting that their sales are in close alignment with traditional mid-November levels. A small number of dealers did mention that a few projects that had been postponed in Q3 were in the process of beginning to ramp up with materials scheduled to begin shipping to the jobsite early to mid-next week.
Mortgage Rates Push Higher in the Week Ending November 12th, 2020
Freddie Mac has released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) for the week ending November 12th, 2020. The PMMS shows that 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.84% with an average 0.7 point, up from last week when it averaged 2.78%. A year ago, at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 3.75%.
Weekly Jobless Claims Continued Their Decline in the Week Ending November 7th, 2020
The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 709,000 Americans made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday November 7th. A decrease of 48,000 from the previous week’s revised level.
Mortgage Delinquencies Decline in Q3 2020
The delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one-to-four-unit residential properties decreased in Q3.
September Construction Market Hiring and Layoffs Data
The construction segment hiring rate slowed modestly in September.
Mortgage Applications Decline -0.5% in Week Ending 6th November 2020
Mortgage loan application volume decreased -0.5% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.
New Cross Laminated Timber Hotel Opens in Ft. Jackson South Carolina
With the completion of the construction of the first phase of Candlewood Suites at Fort Jackson in South Carolina, Lendlease and IHG Army Hotels has completed the construction of their fourth cross-laminated timber (CLT) hotel.