Congress Extends Government Funding Through Early March
With funding for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and about 20% of the rest of the government set to expire at midnight on Friday, the House and Senate today approved a short-term spending bill that will keep HUD and a few other government agencies funded through March 1 and about 80% of the rest of the government funded through March 8.
Of note to the housing community, funding for the National Flood Insurance Program will be extended through March 8.
House and Senate leaders have decided on a topline budget for fiscal year 2024 — $1.59 trillion in discretionary spending. The hard work is deciding how to allocate this total figure among the 12 individual spending bills that provide the full-year budget for the federal government.
The continuing resolution to maintain overall spending at fiscal 2023 levels until early March is intended to buy time for lawmakers to pass a set of annual spending bills that will fund the government through fiscal 2024, which ends on Sept. 30, 2024.
As the entire appropriations process moves forward with HUD and other relevant agencies, NAHB will continue to monitor developments closely and weigh in as appropriate.
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Latest Economic News
The U.S. labor market rebounded in October, with nonfarm payroll employment increasing by 165,000 jobs and the unemployment rate declining to 4.1%. However, the improvement in overall employment contrasts with continued weakness in residential construction, where employment fell by 16,400 jobs, the largest monthly decline since March 2021.
New multifamily housing confidence weakened year-over-year in the third quarter, according to the Multifamily Market Survey (MMS) by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). The MMS produces two separate indices. The Multifamily Production Index (MPI) had a reading of 41, down five points year-over-year, while the Multifamily Occupancy Index (MOI) had a reading of 69, also down five points year-over-year.
Mortgage application activity declined in October as the 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose sharply again. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Market Composite Index, a measure of total mortgage application volume, fell 14.1% month-over-month in October on a seasonally adjusted basis. Compared to a year ago, total mortgage applications were 39.8% lower.