Housing Finance Roundup: July 13, 2020

MBA NewsLink summarizes more than half a dozen new reports from Redfin; Zillow; First American Financial Corp.; Fitch Ratings; ATTOM Data Solutions; and Black Knight.

An Upbeat Jobs Report, Followed by a ‘Misclassification Error’

At 8:30 a.m. on Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics issued a surprising May unemployment report: instead of the 8 million job losses expected by economists’ consensus, the report showed a dramatic 2.5 million increase in jobs, and a 1.4 percent dip in the unemployment rate, from 14.7 percent in April to 13.3 percent. But there was a catch–a huge catch.

Calm Before the Storm? February Housing Starts Dip 1.5%, Pre-Coronavirus

HUD and the Census Bureau reported privately owned housing starts in February fell slightly to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.599 million—a not discouraging number, analysts said, ahead of the yet-to-be-seen impact of the coronavirus pandemic.