US HOUSING DATA

BULLET: [Jan US housing starts -14.3% to 1.408m rate, -2.8%..[Jan US housing starts -14.3% to 1.408m rate, permits -2.8% to 1.568m]. Starts lowest level since Aug 1997. Forecasters had expected 1.6m rate. Two prev. mos barely revised. 1-fam starts plunged 11.2%, to lowest lvlsince Aug '97, while multi-units -24.1%. West -28.5% (10-yr low lvl), MW -15.2% (low lvl since Jan 1991), South -11.8% had big drops. NE +8.9%.Total permits lvl was lower in Nov, Oct but Jan 1-fam permits lvl 1.121m lowest since Dec 1997. Jan. total permits -28.6% yoy. Jan. completions -1.2% to 1.880m. Jan. unadj number of homes permitted but not started +2.9% vs. Dec.