After a summer of laisser aller scheduling, it’s nice to get settled back into a routine with the kids heading back to school today. My first lesson is that the carpool lane at the junior high is substantially more complex than that of the elementary school. You know who didn’t take the summer off is home builders; Housing Starts rose almost 16% in July alone to raise the annual units to just back over 1M. Building Permits are also higher than expected, at 1.052M. Inflation at the retail level was moderated with the Consumer Price Index registering a 0.1% modest gain, dropping the year-over-year increase to a nice round 2.0%. Thirty year FHA loans are at 3.5% and Conventional loans are at 4.125%. Fifteen year rates are way lower at 3.0% (APR will be higher, depending on the loan and down payment amounts, and amortization term–as closing costs and the presence of mortgage insurance affect each loan differently.)
