Morning Report - Housing starts increase

Vital Statistics:

	Last	Change	Percent
S&P Futures	1659.4	3.7	0.22%
Eurostoxx Index	2837.6	1.8	0.06%
Oil (WTI)	107.6	0.2	0.21%
LIBOR	0.264	0.001	0.34%
US Dollar Index (DXY)	81.26	0.076	0.09%
10 Year Govt Bond Yield	2.79%	0.02%
Current Coupon Ginnie Mae TBA	103.9	-0.2
Current Coupon Fannie Mae TBA	102.9	-0.2
RPX Composite Real Estate Index	200.7	-0.2
BankRate 30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage	4.52

Markets are stronger after yesterday's bloodbath, although bonds / MBS are still heavy.

Housing starts came in at 896k, slightly below the 900k estimate. Building permits increased to 943k. Multi-fam construction drove the increase. Single Family starts actually fell. I am having a tough time reconciling the housing starts numbers with the order growth being reported by the homebuilders. We should be seeing faster housing start growth than we are. Maybe it is just that lead times are longer.

Productivity and Unit Labor costs both rose more than expected. Employee hours increased, as did compensation. 

CFPB Monitor has its take on the new QRM rule, along with speculation that the CFPB may raise the required downpayment to 30%. 

The MR will be spotty the next two weeks as I will be on the West Coast.