The market is reacting to headline housing starts this morning, which came out far better than expected. Bloomberg reports that April housing starts rose 20.2% to a 1.135 mln unit rate from an upwardly revised 944K unit rate in March. Building permits rose 10.1% to a 1.143 mln unit rate from a downwardly revised 1.038 mln unit rate in March. This is the biggest month/month percentage increase in housing starts since February 1991, while the 1.135 mln start rate is the highest since November 2007.

Following the data, we're now pushing 2.287 in fairly short order pushing interest rates higher once again. We are now seeing 4.00% for conventional loans (30 year fixed) as the consensus rate as the Best Available Rate for borrowers with excellent credit and 20% down. FHA 30 year fixed is at 3.625%.