Despite yesterday's exuberant spike in optimism from the NAHB sentiment index [5] to 8 year highs, the delusion from reality appears to growing ever wider. This morning's "if we build them, they will buy'em" false headline spike in housing starts (seasonally-adjusted) [6] is yet another delusional divergence as the mortgage applications index collapses (down 60% from 2013 highs) to a new 13-year low.
New 13-year lows in mortgage applications...
[7]
but, hey, seasonally-adjusted we'll just keep building...
[8]
Charts: Bloomberg