Eye On Housing
Total payroll employment rose by 235,000 in August, marking a significant slowdown from the previous month. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate dropped to 5.2% in August, the lowest point during the pandemic. In August, residential construction employment rose by 17,400, while non-residential construction lost 20,300 positions, reflecting declines in builders (-2,800), nonresidential specialty trade contractors (-9,200) and heavy and civil engineering… Read More ›
According to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) fourth quarter National Delinquency Survey (NDS), on a seasonally adjusted basis, the percentage of loans past due decreased from 6.38% in the first quarter to 5.47%. State-level data of the past due loan category reveal that all states had reduced their count of past-due loans. The states that experienced the largest numerical declines… Read More ›
In the past month, total mortgage activity, as measured by the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Market Composite Index, was supported by refinancing, recovering from the relatively lower levels that were characteristic of the months prior. The gain in refinancing is owed to a sizable drop in the 30-year fixed mortgage, which decreased by 10 basis points to 3.01 percent for… Read More ›
Data from the 2020 Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC) show that total multifamily units completed in 2020 increased by six percent to 375,000, the largest annual count of multifamily units completed in thirty years. The number of multifamily units completed were divided between 348,000 units built for-rent and 28,000 units built for-sale, increasing in both categories from the prior… Read More ›
In July, U.S. job growth experienced a solid gain. Total payroll employment rose by 943,000 and the unemployment rate dropped sharply to 5.4%. The July data shows additional growth momentum at the beginning of the second half of the year. In the coming months, the surge of the Delta variant could affect the labor market as Covid-19 restrictions tighten to… Read More ›
Over the last month, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) tracked 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate was showing a greater constancy than the volatility it had displayed in the prior months, staying between 3.10 percent and 3.20 percent, and dropped in the latest week, falling to 3.09 percent. Similarly, the MBA’s Market Composite Index sharply rebounded last week by 16 percent from lower activity levels for most of the month. The rebound, as the MBA cites, may have… Read More ›
In June, total payroll employment rose by 850,000 and the unemployment rate was little changed at 5.9%. The June employment data shows strong growth momentum as more than 154 million people are fully vaccinated and COVID-19 restrictions on business are lifted. Residential construction employment increased by 15,200 in June, while nonresidential construction lost 22,600 jobs, following a decrease of 21,700… Read More ›
In addition to its analysis on areas with the longest commuting times, the Q1 2021 Home Building Geography Index (HBGI) features two other Commute-to-Work data series: counties with top shares of bicycle commuters (i.e., greater than or equal to 0.5 percent) and counties with top shares1 of work-from-home workers (greater than or equal to 6.6 percent). Single-family and multifamily housing… Read More ›
After three straight weeks of declines, mortgage activity in the latest week rebounded, as shown in the Mortgage Bankers Association’s latest Weekly Application Surveys, increasing over 4 percent last week. Both purchase and refinance applications were up, including a 5.5 percent gain in refinances. The jump in refinances was the result of the 30-year fixed rate falling for the third… Read More ›
The latest results from the Federal Reserve’s Z.1 Financial Accounts of the United States, i.e., the “Flow of Funds”, show that, in the first quarter of 2021, the aggregate market value of all owner-occupied real estate in the United States registered the largest numerical quarterly increase in the last 20 years’ worth of data. From $32.84 trillion in the fourth… Read More ›