| In case you missed it, here’s the rapid-fire recap for August 17-21, 2026: |
| Monday, August 17th: Homebuilder Sentiment (NAHB): Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes inched up one point to 35 in August. The Midwest continued to stand out with new home sales up more than 2% so far in 2026. Tuesday, August 18th: Pending Home Sales (NAR): Pending home sales decreased 2.3% month-over-month and 2.2% year-over-year in July, falling to their lowest level since January 2026. Housing Starts (Census Bureau): July 2026 housing starts fell 12.4% from June and 13.5% year-over-year, while completions dropped 9.1% monthly and 16.8% annually. Building permits increased 5.0% from June and 3.1% YoY Wednesday, August 19th: Mortgage Applications (MBA): mortgage applications decreased 0.4% from one week earlier for the week ending August 14, 2026. Purchase applications declined 2% week over week and were down 3% year over year, while refinance applications increased 2% but remained 18% below the same week one year ago. Thursday, August 13th: Weekly Unemployment (DOL): Initial claims fell 6,000 to 206,000 in the week ending Aug. 15, while insured unemployment rose 18,000 to 1.799 million. The insured unemployment rate held at 1.2%. |
