Landaas & Company newsletter  September edition now available.

No major announcements

Trends for housing starts and building permits moved in opposite directions, according to the Commerce Department. The annual pace of starts declined 11% from July, sinking to the slowest pace since June 2020. Meanwhile, permits – an indication of future housing construction – rose nearly 7% from July, though they were almost 3% below the pace in August 2022. After pent-up demand and historically low mortgage rates rallied home building to its briskest levels since 2006, activity has tapered off in the last year amid higher interest rates. The pace of single-family houses under construction slowed for the 15th month in a row.

No major announcements

Labor market conditions remained robust as the four-week moving average for initial unemployment claims declined for the third week in a row. The measure was 41% below the all-time average and the lowest since February, according to data from the Labor Department, a sign of employers’ continued reluctance to let workers go. Nearly 1.7 million Americans were receiving jobless benefits in the latest week, down from 5% the week before but up 30% from the year before.

The annual rate of existing home sales fell 0.7% to 4 million in August, the third slowdown in three months, down 15% from the year-ago pace. The National Association of Realtors said an ongoing lack of houses for sale continued to raise prices. Inventory dropped to a 3.3-month supply, about half of what the trade association said was needed to stabilize pricing. The median sales price hit $407,100 in August, up nearly 4% from the year before.

The Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators fell in August for the 17th month in a row. The index declined 0.4% from July because of weaker measures for factory orders, consumer expectations, interest rates and credit conditions. Nearly a year and a half of falling indicators prompted the business research group to forecast a “challenging growth period and possible recession,” with projections of 2.2% economic growth in 2023 and 0.8% in 2024.

No major announcements

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