A lot is being made of Tuesday’s October homebuilder’s index increasing to 18 from 14, the highest reading in 17 months. The headline “jump” is nice, but overall the index is still weak. Wednesday’s October housing starts and building permits numbers also attracted some notice as housing starts increased 15.0% in September. For the third
Housing Starts
Inflation (September 2011) – CPI – Month/Month (overall) +0.3% – CPI – Year/Year (overall) +3.9% – CPI – Month/Month (core) +0.1% – CPI – Year/Year (core) +2.0%. -There are several stories behind this data. The first is that the only lasting effect of QE II was inflation of commodity prices. The second may be that
Housing Starts – August Housing Starts were 571,000. – Previous was 604,000. Consensus was 592,000. – This is down 5% and a 3-month low. – Permits were 620,000. – Previous was 597,000. Consensus was 590,000. – Full report – 1,500,000 Housing Starts are required to house the increasing population. Housing Starts well below that have
Housing Starts -Starts – Level – Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) – 604,000. -Previous was 629,000. -Permits – Level – SAAR 597,000. Previous was 624,000. The housing sector is an important part of the economy because housing construction creates so many other jobs, most of them domestic. The lack of sustained recovery may be due
Housing Starts -Starts – Level – Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) – 604,000. -Previous was 629,000. -Permits – Level – SAAR 597,000. Previous was 624,000. The housing sector is an important part of the economy because housing construction creates so many other jobs, most of them domestic. The lack of sustained recovery may be due
Last week, June housing starts were 629k annualized vs. 549k for May. It was the highest since January. But housing starts have averaged 400k annualized during the post-bubble years, the lowest in decades according to San Francisco Fed research published yesterday. The paper explores factors affecting weak housing starts and concludes that residential construction will
Housing -Housing Starts (annualized): 629k June vs. 549k May, highest since Jan. -Housing Permits (annualized): 624k June vs. 609k May -Homebuilder confidence flat in June (from 7/18) -Graphs below puts Starts/Permits in perspective -There must be 1.5m Housing Starts a year to keep pace with population growth assuming that the number of people per household
Housing: -May Starts 560,000 (annualized), up 3.5% from April, above 540k expected. -May Permits 612,000 (annualized), up 8.7% from April, most in 2011. -We need about 1,500,000 Housing Starts a year to keep pace with population growth and units scrapped to disaster or obsolescence. Jobs: -414,000 for week ended June 11, down 16,000 from previous
After a four week rally that set new 2011 lows, rates are up slightly on net mortgage bond selling since yesterday. Bond yields (or rates) are now back up to the previous 2011 low level set March 16 after the Japanese earthquake and ‘not-a-war’ in Libya reached peak panic levels. Rates drop when bond prices
Mortgage Applications: Purchase Index – Week/Week Change -3.2 % Refinance Index – Week/Week Change 13.2 % Composite Index – Week/Week Change 7.8 % This report is stark. With rates low, refinance applications are up but purchases are down because (where do I start) prices are dropping, consumers lack confidence that they will have a job,
Stocks rebounded a bit today after deep losses yesterday after S&P issued a negative outlook on the U.S.’s ability to meet its debt obligations. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner tried to steady the ship today, saying “There’s a lot of confidence in the capacity of this economy to grow, to make sure that we can meet
Yesterday’s S&P Case Shiller January 2011 report of existing home prices showed average U.S. home prices declined 3.1% from January 2010. Also January was the sixth straight month with a lower reading from the prior month, which reflects sustained foreclosure volumes and high unemployment. U.S. home prices are now at similar levels to what they
Stocks and rates are down midway through trading day following lots of market data. February housing starts, which measure new homes construction, were down 22.5% since last month, the worst monthly drop in 27 years. The February Producer Price Index (PPI), which measures business inflation, was up 1.6% since last month and has spiked 5.6%
Rates are generally even on today’s market news which includes bank earnings and some housing data, as follows: Wells Fargo’s earnings came out as expected at $3.2 billion (61 cents per share). Initial reads show that Wells’ loan growth was better than expected. Credit quality improved dramatically, allowing Wells to release some $850 million in
Rates are generally even on today’s market news which includes bank earnings and some housing data, as follows: Wells Fargo’s earnings came out as expected at $3.2 billion (61 cents per share). Initial reads show that Wells’ loan growth was better than expected. Credit quality improved dramatically, allowing Wells to release some $850 million in
MBS Reactions To BofA & GMAC Resuming Foreclosures Bank of America and GMAC are the home foreclosure processes that were frozen by documentation concerns. The WSJ reported that “Bank of America Corp. reopened 100,000 foreclosure actions, declaring that it had found no significant problems in its procedures for seizing homes. GMAC Mortgage, a lender and
Load More