Wed, Sep 16 2020, 2:06 PM
The Federal Reserve is committed to using its full range of tools to support the U.S. economy in this challenging time, thereby promoting its maximum ...
Wed, Sep 16 2020, 10:15 AM
The Fed Funds futures market sees the Fed holding pat on rates well into 2022. What could cause rates to go up? A vaccine. Until definitive news like ...
Wed, Sep 16 2020, 10:03 AM
Coronavirus is responsible for many "firsts." Apart from the obvious impact on daily life there are firsts for the economy and monetary policy as wel...
Wed, Sep 16 2020, 8:33 AM
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reports that mortgage applications declined during the week ending September 11, 2020. The week's results inclu...
Tue, Sep 15 2020, 4:21 PM
What will the Fed do to mortgage rates ? This is actually a bit of a trick question . The Fed doesn't set mortgage rates. The Fed's policy rate applie...
Tue, Sep 15 2020, 3:54 PM
Locking vs Floating Ahead of Potentially Big Fed Announcement
First thing's first: if you haven't seen the a...
Tue, Sep 15 2020, 10:46 AM
In August, we witnessed a rapid acceleration in expectations for the Fed's long-awaited inflation framework shift. Although it seemed rather precipit...
Mon, Sep 14 2020, 4:42 PM
Small Scale Volatility In The Bigger Picture
The adverse market fee continues to dominate lock/float conside...
Mon, Sep 14 2020, 2:01 PM
Mortgage lenders had an excellent second quarter in terms of profitability according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, and Fannie Mae's Lender Sent...
Mon, Sep 14 2020, 9:34 AM
Bonds have been consolidating aggressively for an entire month . 10yr yields have been perfectly contained between 0.63 and 0.73 with one brief occa...
Mon, Sep 14 2020, 9:27 AM
People can accomplish a lot in a day. And lenders are continuing to hire like mad dogs (if mad dogs had HR departments), especially non-bank lenders. ...
Mon, Sep 14 2020, 9:15 AM
It was a phenomenon 12 years ago that ended with a huge decline in homeownership among Millennials, and now it is happening, for the same reason to Ge...
Fri, Sep 11 2020, 5:10 PM
If you're in the mortgage process currently or if you will be soon, there is a tremendously important development to be aware of. The net effect is th...
Fri, Sep 11 2020, 5:05 PM
Lock Decisions Still Hinge on Adverse Market Fee
Without any significant volatility in the bond market, mort...
Fri, Sep 11 2020, 1:12 PM
Freddie Mac's Mortgage Market Survey published yesterday reported a 7-basis point decline in the 30-year mortgage rate over the previous week and repo...
Fri, Sep 11 2020, 11:02 AM
The number of loans in forbearance continued to dwindle over the last week, with almost 66,000 fewer homeowners in plans. Over the last 30 days the de...
Fri, Sep 11 2020, 9:39 AM
There's nothing quite like the visual (and visceral) impact of opening up MBS Live in the morning only to see a big drop in the blue line. Today is o...
Fri, Sep 11 2020, 9:08 AM
Plenty of people tell me that I should “head down to Clown Town.” I never know quite how to take that. But now we have Zoom Towns ,” and thank you to ...
Fri, Sep 11 2020, 8:15 AM
The Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA's) Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI) continued to drop in August, an indication that lending standards...
Thu, Sep 10 2020, 6:03 PM
It's Thursday and thus time, once again, for the weekly mortgage rate survey from Freddie Mac. News organizations and even some bond market strategist...
Thu, Sep 10 2020, 4:55 PM
Lock Decisions Still Hinge on Adverse Market Fee
The bond market had a decent showing today, ultimately rall...
Thu, Sep 10 2020, 10:28 AM
Central banks are engaging in unprecedented levels of stimulus and transparency. The US is one of the worst offenders, spending at a record pace whil...
Thu, Sep 10 2020, 9:14 AM
I don’t know exactly when it happened, but somewhere along the line my dog learned the noise the cheese grater makes when I pull it out of the drawer....
Thu, Sep 10 2020, 8:22 AM
Fannie Mae says its Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI) which, before a slight setback in July, had been rebounding strongly from its April COVID-19 ...
Wed, Sep 9 2020, 3:44 PM
Mortgage rates haven't moved much so far this week and they were surprisingly steady at the end of last week despite volatility in the underlying bond...
Wed, Sep 9 2020, 3:09 PM
It Could Have Been a Lot Worse
Although the bond market definitely had its own reasons to weaken last Friday...
Wed, Sep 9 2020, 11:39 AM
Tom Petty sang, “There's somethin' good comin,' just over the hill, somethin' good comin', I know it will. And I'm in for the long run, wherever it go...
Wed, Sep 9 2020, 10:15 AM
While servicing income was down, independent mortgage banks (IMBs) and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered banks had a very profitable second quarter. ...
Wed, Sep 9 2020, 8:11 AM
The volume of mortgage applications reversed direction last week, pulling out a small gain after three straight weeks of declines. The Mortgage Banker...
Tue, Sep 8 2020, 4:40 PM
Stock Market Weakness To The Rescue
Last Friday tied August 11th as the worst day of since early June. It w...
Tue, Sep 8 2020, 11:58 AM
The second quarter of this year was a miserable on many levels, but mortgage origination volume was not one of them. Black Knight's current Mortgage M...
Tue, Sep 8 2020, 9:08 AM
Up until last Friday, bonds had improved decisively for 5 consecutive days. It's fairly rare to see these sorts of winning streaks last more than 5 d...
Tue, Sep 8 2020, 8:53 AM
On one hand we have the old adage, “No tree grows to the moon.” On the other hand, MLOs and real estate agents are licking their chops given that 52 p...
Tue, Sep 8 2020, 8:19 AM
Mortgage delinquencies spiked in June and the serious delinquency rate, loans 90 or more days past due but not in foreclosure, reached its highest lev...
Fri, Sep 4 2020, 4:31 PM
Perfect Storm in Bonds Pushing Yields Quickly Higher
Between the 5-day rally running the risk of getting tir...
Fri, Sep 4 2020, 4:25 PM
Almost everywhere you look, low mortgage rates are in the news. Experts are claiming they'll remain low or move lower for years to come. They might be...
Fri, Sep 4 2020, 10:39 AM
As we head toward the Autumnal Equinox on 9/22, places like Seattle and Minneapolis are losing four minutes of sunlight a day. Something else that is ...
Fri, Sep 4 2020, 9:36 AM
Due to the "anything can happen" nature of financial markets AND the fact that traders can trade what we can predict, I rarely take an unequivocal sta...
Fri, Sep 4 2020, 9:34 AM
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has been on a two-month enforcement tear aimed at mortgage lenders employing deceptive practices in th...
Fri, Sep 4 2020, 9:22 AM
The number of homeowners with mortgages in COVID-19 related forbearance plans dropped during the week ended September 1 after several weeks when there...
Thu, Sep 3 2020, 4:58 PM
Lock vs Float Considerations Ahead of NFP and Holiday Weekend
Bonds did well at face value today, but there ...
Thu, Sep 3 2020, 3:41 PM
Mortgage rates have improved nicely over the past week. While a lot of this improvement is due to the delay of the new refinance fee announced earlier...
Thu, Sep 3 2020, 10:54 AM
“It was the third of September, that day I’ll always remember , yes I will… Wherever he laid his hat was his home… And when he died, all he left us wa...
Thu, Sep 3 2020, 9:34 AM
The premise for today is remarkably simple. In fact, it really doesn't need many words by the time you see the first chart. After Powell and the F...
Wed, Sep 2 2020, 3:57 PM
Mortgage rates have improved noticeably in the past few business days, largely due to the delay of a new fee announced earlier this month. Ironically,...
Wed, Sep 2 2020, 3:40 PM
Bonds Confirm The Breakout, But There Are 2 Ways to Play It
Today offers firm confirmation of the range brea...
Wed, Sep 2 2020, 10:21 AM
I don’t know whether my Nolan Ryan rookie card, fortuitously spared from my bike spokes decades ago, is worth $500 or the 10 cents I spent for the pac...
Wed, Sep 2 2020, 9:20 AM
If you're like me, your initial impression of the financial market is that it's "thing" with a mind of its own-- always on , always moving, with thous...
Wed, Sep 2 2020, 8:19 AM
Mortgage applications, both for home purchase and refinancing, declined for the third straight time during the week ended August 28. The Mortgage Bank...
Tue, Sep 1 2020, 4:22 PM
For most lenders, mortgage rates improved again today, adding to the 3-week lows achieved yesterday. We normally view mortgage rate movement primarily...
