Today, 3:10 PM
Existing-home sales remained relatively stable in July despite elevated mortgage rates, with activity declining modestly from June while remaining abo...
Today, 3:06 PM
Mortgage application activity rebounded last week as a moderate decline in mortgage rates provided some relief for both homebuyers and homeowners cons...
Today, 2:56 PM
First, the bad news: mortgage rates ended the day just a hair higher compared to Thursday, but the change was so small that many borrowers will see li...
Today, 11:43 AM
If you think that profit per loan, or gain per unit, is based purely on size, think about this short video. “Profit” can also be a personal measure in...
Today, 10:01 AM
Based on a few research papers that have attempted to quantify the impact of various economic reports as well as the general consensus among economic ...
Thu, Aug 13 2026, 5:10 PM
Solid Data-Driven Gains
Thursday was a fairly straightforward session for bonds. Yields fell modestly overni...
Thu, Aug 13 2026, 4:07 PM
Mortgage rates dropped noticeably on Thursday on a combination of lower oil prices and a lower inflation reading via the Producer Price Index (PPI). R...
Thu, Aug 13 2026, 11:45 AM
Innovation, compliance, and affordability were key themes at this week’s Western Secondary. At the state level, for example, Kinder Institute report s...
Thu, Aug 13 2026, 9:51 AM
If nothing else, this morning offers confirmation of just how nervous the market is about inflation. The producer price index barely beat its forecast...
Wed, Aug 12 2026, 5:09 PM
Bonds End Flat After Front-Running The Decent Data
We absolutely hate the term "front-running" because it ca...
Wed, Aug 12 2026, 4:48 PM
Mortgage lenders set rates around 10am ET every day, but the bond market dictates the day to day changes, and bonds were on the move throughout the ov...
Wed, Aug 12 2026, 11:15 AM
One of the panels during this year’s California MBA Western Secondary focused on the ramp up of non-Agency/equity lending. Why has it increased as a p...
Wed, Aug 12 2026, 9:44 AM
It would have been hard for CPI to be any more boring. All key metrics came in perfectly in line with forecasts. Supercore (core minus housing), was 0...
Tue, Aug 11 2026, 4:56 PM
Bonds Looking Somewhat Optimistic Ahead of CPI
Bonds improved modestly on Tuesday which is actually a somewh...
Tue, Aug 11 2026, 4:30 PM
It ended up being a remarkably uneventful day for mortgage rates. Some lenders were slightly higher than yesterday. Others were roughly unchanged. The...
Tue, Aug 11 2026, 11:45 AM
What are folks talking about here at the Western Secondary? Small things and big things. There’s a brand-spankin’ new private MI company: Anza. (Conta...
Tue, Aug 11 2026, 10:36 AM
Bonds are rallying, and we have no objection to that. Reasons are simple and familiar enough that there's no sense in over-analyzing them. Newswires h...
Mon, Aug 10 2026, 4:00 PM
Issuance and Oil Strike Back
Oil prices continue to ebb and flow in concert with the Iran war news cycle. Th...
Mon, Aug 10 2026, 3:32 PM
As of last Friday, average top-tier mortgage rates hit their lowest levels since July 20th. If they'd managed to drop even 0.01% today, it would have ...
Mon, Aug 10 2026, 11:42 AM
Here in the hallways at the Western Secondary in L.A., there isn’t a lot of talk about GSE reform, although this short clip from Sam Valverde, ex-acti...
Mon, Aug 10 2026, 10:32 AM
Recent experience suggests the safest assumption about oil prices and bond yields is that they will pop and drop with reasonable regularity. In other ...
Fri, Aug 7 2026, 5:21 PM
Not Quite The Rally You'd Expect, But a Rally Nonetheless
Today's vitals might be a bit confusing at first g...
Fri, Aug 7 2026, 4:58 PM
Mortgage rates dropped moderately today after the latest jobs report showed much lower jobs created than expected. The monthly jobs report is one of ...
Fri, Aug 7 2026, 3:22 PM
Mortgage application activity declined for a second consecutive week as higher borrowing costs continued to weigh on both purchase and refinance deman...
Fri, Aug 7 2026, 11:52 AM
As many of us prepare to head to So Cal for the California MBA’s Western Secondary (800 or so registered), artificial intelligence continues to be the...
Fri, Aug 7 2026, 9:05 AM
Nonfarm payrolls (NFP) FELL 23k versus an 80k forecast. Last month was revised down as well. From a traditional market-watching perspective, this is ...
Thu, Aug 6 2026, 3:05 PM
Almost Like Clockwork
Almost like clockwork, after several days spent mostly rallying on a headline-driven d...
Thu, Aug 6 2026, 2:08 PM
Mortgage rates rose modestly on Thursday, with multiple lenders making mid-day adjustments in response to bond market volatility. Bonds remain highly ...
Thu, Aug 6 2026, 11:04 AM
It's as good of a day as any to revisit our primer on corporate debt issuance given that it's having an impact on bonds today. Alphabet announced a $...
Thu, Aug 6 2026, 10:53 AM
Lender and Broker Software, Products, and Services What if the most important capital markets decision you're making today is based on incomplete da...
Wed, Aug 5 2026, 3:28 PM
Bonds Shake Off Mid-Day Weakness to Hold Mostly Steady
Bonds took a break from their recent trend of moderat...
Wed, Aug 5 2026, 3:11 PM
The bond market and mortgage rates have been on the move lower recently after hitting longer term highs at the end of July. Today offered a break from...
Wed, Aug 5 2026, 8:55 AM
With the potential for a Hormuz deal floated earlier in the week, a more substantive announcement remains the biggest opportunity for the bond market ...
Tue, Aug 4 2026, 3:29 PM
Solid Showing For Logical Reasons
Money flooded back into both sides of the market in a major way (albeit mo...
Tue, Aug 4 2026, 3:01 PM
Mortgage rates were a bit hesitant to follow the bond market's advice yesterday. Specifically, bonds rallied (i.e. bond prices moved higher and yields...
Tue, Aug 4 2026, 11:44 AM
After a general summer lull, and with talk of JPMorgan Chase’s $750 billion housing investment rifling through our biz, mortgage conference season shi...
Tue, Aug 4 2026, 9:39 AM
This morning is offering another installment of hope for some form of progress in Iran. In today's case, it was Bessent floating the notion of possibl...
Mon, Aug 3 2026, 3:52 PM
Sideways and Stronger, But Risks Remain
Monday was "nice." Bonds rallied more than a little bit and held tho...
Mon, Aug 3 2026, 3:27 PM
Mortgage rates had a tough day on Friday, largely in response to bond market volatility surrounding heavy forex trading as a part of US/Japan efforts ...
Mon, Aug 3 2026, 11:24 AM
Non-QM investors are “licking their chops” by using the information that the FHFA, through Freddie and Fannie, is requiring a more thorough lender ass...
Mon, Aug 3 2026, 10:25 AM
Bonds opened the trading session in much stronger territory, following the drop in oil prices associated with another round of de-escalation hopes in ...
Fri, Jul 31 2026, 4:08 PM
Esoteric Forex Drama Blasts Bonds, Maybe
Friday was very much NOT on the beaten path of typical bond market ...
Fri, Jul 31 2026, 1:36 PM
To be fair, mortgage rates haven't been far from their long-term highs in over a week, but today's 30yr fixed index level of 6.83% is functionally equ...
Fri, Jul 31 2026, 12:41 PM
Home price appreciation remained modest in May, according to data from both FHFA and the S&P Cotality Case-Shiller Home Price Indices . Although bo...
Fri, Jul 31 2026, 12:33 PM
Mortgage application activity pulled back last week as higher borrowing costs weighed on both home purchase and refinance demand. The Mortgage Bankers...
Fri, Jul 31 2026, 11:49 AM
I am no numerologist, but Freddie Mac’s announcement yesterday, that 30-year mortgage rates are averaging 6.66, caught my attention. Unlike rumors, li...
Fri, Jul 31 2026, 9:09 AM
Japan's Ministry of Finance (MOF) and central bank (BOJ) are a bit more closely linked than Treasury and the Fed. For example, the MOF can instruct th...
Thu, Jul 30 2026, 4:14 PM
Bullets Dodged
We've seen our fair share of bonds punishing the market on occasions where bond traders were ...
Thu, Jul 30 2026, 2:52 PM
It's not at all uncommon for mortgage rates to experience microscopic movement in either direction on any given day. In fact, it's probably the most c...
Thu, Jul 30 2026, 11:56 AM
I was recently doing some bike riding in the Napa Valley and spent some time speaking with a wine maker. She told me that because of the increase in t...
