Housing & Economy

Consumer Economics

Proposal to temporarily cut VAT rate on energy from 13.5% to 9% will more than make up for planned carbon tax, designed to curb rising cost of living; €2B allocated to reduce transport costs, medicine costs and waiving school-leaving certificate fees
Irish Independent (04/18)

Employee Compensation & Benefits

Shareholder groups at Dine Brands Global and Denny’s submit resolutions to both companies calling for them to analyze the impact of raising wages for all restaurant workers and consider doing away with the tip credit
Nation's Restaurant News (04/19)

South Africa’s Competition Commission recommends approval of Ardagh’s acquisition of glass packaging maker Consol, with conditions that include continued supply of food jars or wide-mouth jars, establishing a new employee share ownership program, more
Engineering News (04/19)

Employee Well-Being/Satisfaction

A worker wins US$450,000 compensation case after colleagues went against his wishes and threw him an office birthday party, setting off his anxiety and ultimately leading to him losing his job
The Independent (Online) (04/18)

Labor Scarcity/Skills Shortage

India facing newsprint shortage as domestic mills lack adequate wastepaper stock, import orders take at least five months to arrive, resulting in supply-demand gap; India's newsprint capacity is 700,000 tonnes, but total consumption is 1.4M tonnes
Exchange4Media (04/19)

GDP

Fannie Mae lowers full-year 2022 and 2023 real GDP growth forecast by 0.2% and 2.4%, respectively; expectations of aggressive monetary policy tightening through 2023 to weigh on economic output
Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) (04/19)

China’s economic growth edged up to 4.8% year-over-year in Q1, up from Q4's 4.0% growth; decline of quarterly growth to 1.3% from 1.4%, further impacts from lockdowns will weigh on activity
Associated Press (04/18)

Leading Indicators & Economic Signals

Sustainable indie brand sk*p launches products at Ulta Beauty and joins its Conscious Beauty holistic initiative; sk*p will also create initiatives for Earth Week for consumers to trade plastic bottles for sk*p products in recyclable paper BeautyCartons
Beauty Packaging (04/18)

Energy Indicators

US average on-highway diesel fuel price in week ended Apr. 18 increased to US$5.101/gallon from US$5.073/gallon last week; average regular gasoline price decreased to US$4.066/gallon from US$4.091/gallon: EIA
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) (04/19)

US national gas price average fell to US$4.08 in week ended Apr.18; lower prices could be temporary should the global price of oil increase due to constrained supply: AAA
American Automobile Association (AAA) (04/18)

Interest Rates

Freddie Mac predicts US single-family housing market will remain solid in 2022 even as mortgage rates increase; home sales expected at 6.7 million in 2022, 6.6 million in 2023 compared to 6.9 million in 2021
Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (Freddie Mac) (04/19)

Lumber prices slump amid climbing mortgage rates, but could rebound on tight supply; Domain Timber advisors director expects recently volatile market to normalize over course 2022, 'somewhere in the US$600-US$1,000 range,' or slightly above
Business Insider (04/18)

Inflation

L'Oreal reports Q1 sales of €9.06B, up 19% year-over-year on all divisions--professional, luxe, active cosmetics--seeing double-digit growth, e-commerce representing 25.8% of sales; growth trend continued with consumer purchasing unaffected by inflation
L'Oréal SA (04/19)

Staff at Apple's flagship New York store look to become first Apple retail store to unionize, per Washington Post; workers say wages have not kept up with inflation and they could not hold some managers accountable for unfair, abusive practices
Business Insider (04/18)

Housing Starts

Privately‐owned US housing starts in March at seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,793,000, up 0.3% from revised February level, up 3.9% annually; building permits up 6.7% annually to 1,873,000, completions down 13.0% to 1,303,000: Dept. of Commerce
U.S. Dept. of Commerce (DOC) (04/19)

US single-family starts decreased 1.7% to a 1.2 million seasonally adjusted annual rate in March; multifamily production increased 4.6% to a 593,000 pace: NAHB
National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) (04/19)

Home Ownership

Share of US homeowners with mortgages that have a mortgage rate under 4% stands at 51%; share of all homeowners, including those without mortgages, that have a mortgage rate under 4% at 32%: Redfin
Redfin Corp. (04/19)

Mortgages/Home Financing

Share of US mortgage loans in forbearance decreased to 1.05% as of Mar. 31 from 1.18% in prior month; share of Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance decreased 12 basis points to 1.38%, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance down 7 basis points to 0.49%
Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) (04/19)

US commercial and multifamily mortgage lending expected to hold steady in 2022 at a projected US$895B; multifamily lending alone forecast to fall 11% to US$418B: Mortgage Bankers Assn.
Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) (04/18)

New Homes

Lumber prices reach record highs in Japan as builders shun Russian wood, adding to pressure on housing market; Russia accounts for more than 80% of Japan’s imports of wood veneer sheets used in plywood, nearly 20% of imports of house-roofing rafters
The Asahi Shimbun (04/19)

US builder confidence in market for newly built single-family homes fell two points to 77 in April, the fourth consecutive monthly decline; sharp increase in mortgage rates and persistent supply chain disruptions continue to unsettle housing market: NAHB
National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) (04/18)

Residential Construction & Real Estate

Canadian home sales fell 5.4% in March from February, down by 16.3% year-over-year; newly listed properties decreased 5.5% month-over-month in March, national average home price up 11.2% year-over-year to C$796,000: CREA
Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) (04/19)

Centersource Technologies' Timber Exchange hosts series of free wood products industry/market webinars; topics include US housing market outlook, Russia-Ukraine war's impact on log and lumber markets and trade flows, New Zealand perspectives
Russ Taylor Global (04/18)

Commercial Construction & Real Estate

Final National Environmental Policy Act rule reverses previous administration's efforts to streamline federal environmental review and permitting process; Associated Builders and Contractors says construction industry needs process to be modernized
Associated Builders and Contractors (04/19)

Great Southern Wood Preserving, best known for its YellaWood brand pressure-treated pine, to invest US$22.5M expanding selection of wood treatments produced at its Mansura, Louisiana, facility; company aims to target new commercial and industrial markets
Louisiana Economic Development Corp. (04/19)

Industrial Construction/Real Estate

Vermont Container parent company Unicorr Packaging acquires factory building in Bennington, Vermont, for US$1.1M; Vermont Container produces protective packaging, corrugated boxes, wood crates and pallets, display packaging, retail-ready packaging
Bennington Banner (04/19)

Corporate Management

The Wound Pros appoints Dr. Swati Hans as VP of Business Development to manage growth in skilled nursing sector; company offers advanced wound care dressings, biologics for chronic, acute non-healing wound care
PR Newswire (04/18)

Corporate Financing

Sealed Air announces closing of its offering of US$425M aggregate principal amount of 5% senior notes due 2029, says notes were sold to investors at 100% of their amount; company will use proceeds to repurchase outstanding 5.25% senior notes due 2023
Business Wire (04/19)

Sealed Air announces results of early tender for 5.25% senior notes due 2023, says US$380,417,000 principal amount, or 89.51% of the principal amount outstanding, has been validly tendered and not withdrawn
Business Wire (04/19)

Thousands   |   Latest: Mar/22

Total, Seasonally Adjusted   |   Latest: 04/09/22

Total, Not Seasonally Adjusted   |   Latest: 04/09/22

Total, Seasonally Adjusted   |   Latest: 04/09/22

%   |   Latest: Mar/22

%   |   Latest: Mar/22

%   |   Latest: 04/14/22

Real/US$   |   Latest: 04/19/22

Index 1985=100   |   Latest: Mar/22

Leading Indicators

Interactive Chart: Click on legend/key to see full view on your dashboard

Interactive Chart: Click on legend/key to see full view on your dashboard

Sources: Industry Intelligence Inc.,Census Bureau