by Calculated Risk on 9/21/2025 09:55:00 AM

This is something I check occasionally.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) reported:

Travel on all roads and streets changed by +1.7% (+4.9 billion vehicle miles) for July 2025 as compared with July 2024. Travel for the month is estimated to be 296.0 billion vehicle miles.

The seasonally adjusted vehicle miles traveled for July 2025 is 276.6 billion miles, a +1.6% ( 4.4 billion vehicle miles) change over July 2024. It also represents a 0.5% change (1.5 billion vehicle miles) compared with June 2025.

Cumulative Travel for 2025 changed by +0.9% (+17.1 billion vehicle miles). The cumulative estimate for the year is 1,919.0 billion vehicle miles of travel.
emphasis added

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the monthly total vehicle miles driven, seasonally adjusted.

Miles driven declined sharply in March 2020 and really collapsed in April 2020.  

Miles driven are now at pre-pandemic levels.

by Calculated Risk on 9/20/2025 02:11:00 PM

At the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter this week:

Click on graph for larger image.

• Housing Starts Decreased to 1.307 million Annual Rate in August

• Lawler: Early Read on August Existing Home Sales, and Update on Mortgage/MBS Yields and Spreads

• 3rd Look at Local Housing Markets in August

• 2nd Look at Local Housing Markets in August

This is usually published 4 to 6 times a week and provides more in-depth analysis of the housing market.

by Calculated Risk on 9/20/2025 08:11:00 AM

The key reports this week are August New and Existing Home sales, the third estimate of Q2 GDP, and Personal Income and Outlays for August.

For manufacturing, the Richmond and Kansas City Fed manufacturing surveys will be released this week.

----- Monday, September 22nd -----
8:30 AM ET: Chicago Fed National Activity Index for August. This is a composite index of other data.

----- Tuesday, September 23rd -----
10:00 AM: the Richmond Fed manufacturing survey for September.

----- Wednesday, September 24th -----
7:00 AM ET: The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) will release the results for the mortgage purchase applications index.

10:00 AM: New Home Sales for August from the Census Bureau.

This graph shows New Home Sales since 1963. The dashed line is the sales rate for last month.

The consensus is for 653 thousand SAAR, up from 652 thousand in July.

During the day: The AIA's Architecture Billings Index for August (a leading indicator for commercial real estate).

----- Thursday, September 25th -----
8:30 AM: The initial weekly unemployment claims report will be released. The consensus is for initial claims to increase to 234 thousand from 231 thousand last week.

8:30 AM: Gross Domestic Product, 2nd Quarter 2025 (Third Estimate), GDP by Industry, and Corporate Profits (Revised) The consensus is that real GDP increased 3.3% annualized in Q2, unchanged from the second estimate of 3.3%.

8:30 AM: Durable Goods Orders for August from the Census Bureau. The consensus is for a 0.5% decrease in durable goods orders.

10:00 AM: Existing Home Sales for August from the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The consensus is for 3.98 million SAAR, down from 4.01 million in July.

The graph shows existing home sales from 1994 through the report last month.

Housing economist Tom Lawler expects the NAR to report August sales of 3.93 million SAAR.

11:00 AM: the Kansas City Fed manufacturing survey for September. 

----- Friday, September 26th -----
8:30 AM: Personal Income and Outlays, August 2025.  The consensus is for a 0.3% increase in personal income, and for a 0.5% increase in personal spending. And for the Core PCE price index to increase 0.2% (up 2.9% YoY).

10:00 AM: University of Michigan's Consumer sentiment index (Final for September). The consensus is for a reading of 55.4.

by Calculated Risk on 9/19/2025 12:38:00 PM

Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: 3rd Look at Local Housing Markets in August

A brief excerpt:

The NAR is scheduled to release August Existing Home sales on Thursday, September 25th at 10:00 AM. The consensus is for the NAR to report sales of 3.98 million SAAR. Last year, the NAR reported sales in August 2024 at 3.93 million SAAR.

Housing economist Tom Lawler expects the NAR to report August sales of 3.90 million SAAR.

August sales will be mostly for contracts signed in June and July, and mortgage rates averaged 6.82% in June and 6.72% in July (somewhat lower than for closed sales in July).

In August, sales in these early reporting markets were down 2.2% YoY. Last month, in July, these same markets were down 0.6% year-over-year Not Seasonally Adjusted (NSA).

Important: There were one fewer working days in August 2025 (21) as in August 2024 (22). So, the year-over-year change in the headline SA data will be more than the NSA data (there are other seasonal factors).
...
More local markets to come!

There is much more in the article.

by Calculated Risk on 9/19/2025 11:01:00 AM

From BofA:

Since our last weekly publication, 3Q GDP tracking moved up to 2.1% q/q saar from 1.7% & 2Q GDP is up two-tenths to 3.4%. [September 19th comment]
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From Goldman:

We left our Q3 GDP tracking estimate unchanged at +2.2% (quarter-over-quarter annualized). Our Q3 domestic final sales estimate stands at +1.3%. [September 17th estimate]

And from the Atlanta Fed: GDPNow

The GDPNow model estimate for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the third quarter of 2025 is 3.3 percent on September 17, down from 3.4 percent on September 16. After this morning’s housing starts release from the US Census Bureau, the nowcast of third-quarter real residential investment growth decreased from -4.6 percent to -6.3 percent. [September 17th estimate]

by Calculated Risk on 9/19/2025 08:11:00 AM

What this means: On a weekly basis, Realtor.com reports the year-over-year change in active inventory, new listings and median prices. On a monthly basis, they report total inventory. For August, Realtor.com reported active inventory was up 20.9% YoY, but still down 14.3% compared to the 2017 to 2019 same month levels. 

Here is their weekly report: Weekly Housing Trends: Latest Data as of Sept. 13

• Active inventory climbed 17.6% year over year

The number of homes active on the market climbed 17.6% year over year, easing slightly compared to the previous week for the 13th consecutive week. Nevertheless, last week was the 97th consecutive week of annual gains in inventory. There were roughly 1.1 million homes for sale last week, marking the 20th week in a row over the million-listing threshold. Active inventory is growing significantly faster than new listings, an indication that more homes are sitting on the market for longer.

• New listings—a measure of sellers putting homes up for sale—rose 2.1% year over year

New listings rose 2.1% last week compared with the same period last year. This is an increase from the previous week, though the number of new listings remains below the spring and early summer norm. Homeowners are less eager to get into the market as inventory continues to build and buyers keep to the sidelines.

• The median listing price was flat year over year

The median list price was flat compared to the same week one year ago. Adjusting for home size, we also see price per square foot fall year over year for the second consecutive week. Price per square foot had been growing steadily for almost two years, but the weak sales activity has finally caught up and stalled out this metric, suggesting underlying home values are starting to soften.

by Calculated Risk on 9/18/2025 07:25:00 PM

Note: Mortgage rates are from MortgageNewsDaily.com and are for top tier scenarios.

Friday:
• At 10:00 AM: State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) for August 2025

by Calculated Risk on 9/18/2025 02:50:00 PM

Hotel occupancy was weak over the summer months, likely due to less international tourism.  The fall months are mostly domestic travel.

From STR: U.S. hotel results for week ending 13 September

The U.S. hotel industry reported mostly negative year-over-year comparisons, according to CoStar’s latest data through 13 September. ...

7-13 September 2025 (percentage change from comparable week in 2024):

• Occupancy: 65.4% (-1.8%)
• Average daily rate (ADR): US$162.71 (+0.1%)
• Revenue per available room (RevPAR): US$106.43 (-1.7%)
emphasis added

The following graph shows the seasonal pattern for the hotel occupancy rate using the four-week average.

Click on graph for larger image.

The red line is for 2025, blue is the median, and dashed light blue is for 2024.  Dashed purple is for 2018, the record year for hotel occupancy. 

The 4-week average of the occupancy rate is tracking behind both last year and the median rate for the period 2000 through 2024 (Blue).

Note: Y-axis doesn't start at zero to better show the seasonal change.

The 4-week average will increase during the Fall travel period.

On a year-to-date basis, the only worse years for occupancy over the last 25 years were pandemic or recession years.

by Calculated Risk on 9/18/2025 10:59:00 AM

Today, in the Calculated Risk Real Estate Newsletter: Lawler: Early Read on August Existing Home Sales, and Update on Mortgage/MBS Yields and Spreads

A brief excerpt:

From housing economist Tom Lawler:

Early Read on Existing Home Sales in August

Based on publicly-available local realtor/MLS reports released across the country through today, I project that existing home sales as estimated by the National Association of Realtors ran at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.90 million in August, down 2.7% from July’s preliminary pace and down 0.8% from last August’s seasonally adjusted pace. Unadjusted sales should show a larger YOY % decline, reflecting this August’s lower business day count compared to last August’s.

Local realtor/MLS reports suggest that the median existing single-family home sales price last month was up by about 2.2% from a year earlier.

CR Note: The NAR is scheduled to release August Existing Home sales on Thursday, September 25th at 10:00 AM. Last year, the NAR reported sales in August 2024 at 3.93 million SAAR.

There is also an update on Mortgage/MBS Yields and Spreads in the article.

by Calculated Risk on 9/18/2025 08:30:00 AM

The DOL reported:

In the week ending September 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 231,000, a decrease of 33,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 263,000 to 264,000. The 4-week moving average was 240,000, a decrease of 750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 240,500 to 240,750.
emphasis added

The following graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims since 1971.

Click on graph for larger image.

The dashed line on the graph is the current 4-week average. The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims decreased to 240,000.

The previous week was revised up.

Weekly claims were below the consensus forecast.