EM CEEMEA CREDIT: TURKEY: FinMin comments on liquidity in bond mkt

New home sales fell much more sharply in January than expected, but this was more than made up for by upward revisions. 

• The 657k (SA annualized) of new single-family house sales were below the 680k survey - but December was revised a substantial 36k higher to 734k, meaning the actual 2-month total was 14k higher than the "expected" total.
• Sales fell in each of the 4 geographic regions in January, with the exception of the West.
• In terms of inventory, December now turns out to have had a sharp drop in months of supply (8.0, vs 8.5 pre-revision), but this rebounded sharply to 9.0 months in January.
• Median prices rose 3.7% Y/Y, the strongest since January 2024, to the 2nd-highest monthly price ever $446.3k (non-seasonally-adjusted - the record was $460k in October 2022) - the average in January was $510k.
• Bigger-picture, new home sales were down 1.1% Y/Y, so not exactly dynamic.
• But new homes continue to represent an unusually elevated proportion of supply (30%, vs half that pre-pandemic) and total sales  (14-15%, vs 10% or lower pre-pandemic) as existing home sales growth stagnates amid high mortgage rates.

Commerzbank write “although Schatz ASW spreads remain resilient, Bund ASWs are hitting new lows and even underperform against 30s as markets prepare for persistent fiscal slippage under the new German government. As the game of brinkmanship for fast-tracking new expenditures gathers pace, more volatility could be in store, but Bunds will struggle to regain their 'special' status, regardless of the eventual legislative details to free up fiscal space”.

• They suggest that “combined with converging duration free-floats across the 'pristine' global bond markets this implies further catch-up with U.S. Treasury and Gilt ASW structures”.
• Therefore, they reiterate structural shorts in (ultra-)long Bund spreads, both outright and vs. Schatz.

• Total 15,000 2QM5 96.75/97.00 call spds vs. 95.50/95.75 put spds, 1.0 net/call spd over at 1015:15ET to 101557ET.
• This followed total of 10,000 2QM5 96.50/96.75 call spds vs. 95.50/95.75 put spds, 4.0 net/calls over at 0957:20ET