Fewer people applied for unemployment benefits last week. Both new and total claims dropped significantly, implying that there is job creation and people are able to find jobs again.
As of September, 41 states had job gains but employment has not recovered to pre-pandemic levels (February 2020) in all states.
Seasonally adjusted advanced estimates of United States retail and food services sales continued its upward trend for the month of September as sales continue to exceed pre-pandemic levels.
REALTORS® reported conducting more home tours, with an average of nearly five in-person home tours compared to only two new listings per agent.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage reached a new record low for the second consecutive week, falling to an average 2.80% from 2.81% the previous week.
The new September 2020 NAR Sentrilock Home Showings Report indicates a slight decrease in nationwide foot traffic, but showings remain at historically elevated levels as home showings for three of the four regions saw increases in year-over-year activity.
A gain of 8.1% from a year ago to 1.415 million new unit production (annualized) is good but far more units are needed.
New claims have hovered near 800,000 in the last 5 consecutive weeks. However, the number of people filing for unemployment benefits rose significantly last week.
Mortgage rates sharply fell this week reaching a new record low. Following the trend of the 10-year Treasury yield, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropped to average 2.81% this week from 2.87% the prior week
NAR compared some of the characteristics of Hispanic Americans with those of other Americans to evaluate the socioeconomic status and the effects of COVID on this group.
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