Dealers responding to this week’s FEA Weekly Order Survey noted that July’s housing news just seems to be getting better and better. This week, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that July’s new home sales were 13.9% above the revised June 2020 rate and 36.3% above the July 2019 estimate.
Wood Markets News
Multifamily Construction Starts Increase in Q2 2020
The market share of rental multifamily construction starts increased to 96% during the second quarter of 2020.
Weekly Jobless Claims Remain Above Million in the Week Ending August 22nd, 2020
The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 1,006,000 Americans made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday August 22nd. A decrease of 98,000 from the previous week’s revised level.
Mortgage Rates Drop Below 3% in Week Ending August 27th, 2020
Freddie Mac has released its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) for the week ending August 27th, 2020. The PMMS shows that 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 2.91% with an average 0.8 point, down from last week when it averaged 2.99%.
Pending Homes Sales Up 5.9% in July
The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) has reported that their Pending Homes Sales Index (PHSI) increased 5.9% in July to a reading of 122.1.
New Single-Family and Multifamily Construction Used $94.93 Billion in Building Material Products in 2019
In 2019 new single-family and multifamily construction used approximately $94.93 billion in building material products.
Federal Housing Finance Agency Announces Delay in Implementing Adverse Market Refinance Fee
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) abruptly changed courses on Tuesday (8/25), announcing that they were postponing the beginning of their adverse market refinance fee set to begin on September 1st to December 1st.
Builders FirstSource, Inc. and BMC Stock Holdings Announce Mega Merger
Builders FirstSource, Inc. and BMC Stock Holdings, Inc., today announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Builders FirstSource and BMC will combine in an all-stock merger transaction to create the nation’s premier supplier of building materials and services with over $11 billion in annual sales.
Hurricane Laura Will Disrupt Gulf Coast Forest Products Industry
Nearly 50 forest product mills in the path of Hurricane Laura.
Mortgage Applications Decline in Week Ending 21st August, 2020
According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Application Survey, for the week ending 21st August 2020, the Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased -6.5% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier.