Morning Report: Robust housing starts

Vital Statistics:

	Last	Change
S&P Futures	2736.0	2.0
Eurostoxx Index	379.5	3.0
Oil (WTI)	61.4	0.1
US dollar index	82.9	0.2
10 Year Govt Bond Yield	2.88%
Current Coupon Fannie Mae TBA	103.591
Current Coupon Ginnie Mae TBA	103.688
30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage	4.44

Stocks are higher on no real news. Bonds and MBS are up.

Housing starts came in at 1.326MM annualized, better than expectations. Building permits hit 1.4 million - a 10 year high. Both numbers beat estimates by about 100k, a sizeable amount. The jump was largely in the volatile multi-family segment however. Single family starts were up about 4% YOY. That said, we are still well under the historical averages for starts, which was about 1.5 million units a year during from the 60s through the 90s and early 00s. 

NAR welcomed the housing starts number: "Terrific news on housing starts in January with a solid 10% gain. This rise in single-family housing construction will help tame home price growth, and the increase in multifamily units should continue to help slow rent growth. The large gain in housing starts in the West (10.7%) is especially welcomed, as that region has been facing acute housing shortages. Ultimately, there is still large room for improvement given the fact overall housing inventory is currently near historic lows." This is from Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist.

Import prices rose 1% MOM and are up 3.6% YOY. Energy prices were a big driver of the increase, however if you pull out energy, import prices were up just under 2% YOY. The dollar has been selling off for about a year now, and that is adding pressure to import prices which will flow through to inflation. 

Consumer sentiment improved in early February despite the stock market sell-off. Sentiment came in at about December levels and is at post-recession highs. 

Changes may be coming to TRID disclosure. The House passed a measure requiring more detail in how insurance fees are disclosed. The bill would amend language in the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) to require the itemization of “all actual charges” and not just the itemization of “all charges.” The bill also would amend RESPA to require that ‘‘Charges for any title insurance premium disclosed on [the TRID rule] forms shall be equal to the amount charged for each individual title insurance policy, subject to any discounts as required by State regulation or the title company rate filings.’’. Thus, the bill would not permit the current approach to the disclosure of title insurance premiums under the TRID rule, and would require that the amounts disclosed for title insurance reflect the actual premium charges, including any discounts.

Thinking of relocating? Here is how much you need to make to be able to qualify for a mortgage on the median house in that MSA. The highest? San Jose, where the median home price is 1.3 million and you need to make just under a quarter of a million.