Today, in the Real Estate Newsletter: Asking Rents Mostly Unchanged Year-over-year Brief excerpt: Another monthly update on rents. Apartment List: Asking Rent Growth -0.5% Year-over-year ... On the supply side of the rental market, our national vacancy index ticked up to 6.9 percent in January, the highest reading in the history of that monthly data series, which goes back to the start of 2017. Realtor.com: 17th Consecutive Month with Year-over-year Decline in Rents In December 2024, the US median asking rent continued to decline month-over-month for the seventeenth consecutive month. The national median rent was $1,695 in December, down $8 (0.5%) from November 2024 and $18 (1.1%) from December 2023 across the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the country. This is much more in the article.

The Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported: The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced today that the goods and services deficit was $98.4 billion in December, up $19.5 billion from $78.9 billion in November, revised. emphasis added Click on graph for larger image. Exports and imports increased in November. Both imports and exports have generally increased recently.   The blue line is the total deficit, and the black line is the petroleum deficit, and the red line is the trade deficit ex-petroleum products. It is likely some importers were trying to beat potential tariffs.

From ADP: ADP National Employment Report: Private Sector Employment Increased by 183,000 Jobs in January; Annual Pay was Up 4.7% “We had a strong start to 2025 but it masked a dichotomy in the labor market,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist, ADP. “Consumer-facing industries drove hiring, while job growth was weaker in business services and production.” This was above the consensus forecast of 150,000. The BLS report will be released Friday, and the consensus is for 170,000 non-farm payroll jobs added in January.

From the MBA: Mortgage Applications Increase in Latest MBA Weekly Survey Mortgage applications increased 2.2 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending January 31, 2025. Last week’s results include an adjustment for the Martin Luther King holiday. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 4 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 15 percent compared with the previous week and was 0.2 percent higher than the same week one year ago. Purchase activity had a tougher week, with declines across all loan types. The average loan size for a purchase loan has increased since the start of the year and continued that trend last week with weaker government purchase activity, which reached $447,300, the highest level since October 2024.” ... emphasis added Click on graph for larger image. The first graph shows the MBA mortgage purchase index. Red is a four-week average (blue is weekly).   Purchase application activity is up about 25% from the lows in late October 2023 and is now 4% above the lowest levels during the housing bust.   The second graph shows the refinance index since 1990. The refinance index remains very low.