Market Forecast: Pending Home Sales Index, Construction Spending, and ADP Employment

Blog posted On July 31, 2017

Mortgage rates did not move much last week.  There were mixed housing numbers with a decline in existing home sales and an increase in new home sales.  This week, the pending home sales index comes out on Monday, US construction spending comes out Tuesday, and the ADP employment report comes out on Wednesday. 

The pending home sales index tracks the number of homes that are under contract.  Typically, it takes about four to six weeks for a contracted sale to close.  In May, the pending home sales index dropped 0.8% month-over-month to a level of 108.5. 

US construction spending measures the total spend on residential, non-residential, and public construction projects. In May, construction spending was unchanged month-over-month and up 4.5% year-over-year.    

The ADP employment report is used to measure the strength of private sector hiring based on the numbers from 400,000 private companies employing 23 million workers.  In June, the ADP employment report was weak with the addition of 158,000 jobs.  

Housing and jobs are strong economic influencers.  Strong housing activity and positive job growth translates into economic momentum.

Sources: Bloomberg, MarketWatch, Mortgage News Daily