Wed, Jul 7 2021, 4:14 PM
We recently summarized a report from the Urban Institute (UI) about the apparent reluctance of sellers to entertain offers from prospective buyers int...
Wed, Jul 7 2021, 4:04 PM
Traders Shrug Off Fed Minutes to Keep buying Bonds
Hindsight is 20/20 and it now seems clear that traders we...
Wed, Jul 7 2021, 3:04 PM
Mortgage rates have fallen fairly consistently over the past 2.5 weeks with the past 2 days seeing some of the better improvements. There haven't been...
Wed, Jul 7 2021, 11:52 AM
Sorry the commentary was a little late today. I was on the phone dealing with my car’s extended warranty. Per the personalized recording, they’ve been...
Wed, Jul 7 2021, 9:38 AM
Whether it's an imperfect catch-all term like "tradeflows," or a similarly imprecise reference to the "unseen hand," bonds often find motivation from ...
Wed, Jul 7 2021, 8:08 AM
The week preceding the Independence Day holiday saw a further decline in mortgage applications for both home purchases and refinancing. The Mortgage B...
Tue, Jul 6 2021, 4:09 PM
CoreLogic report for May is yet another reporting home prices are still moving higher. May's year-over-year appreciation of 15.4 percent was the highe...
Tue, Jul 6 2021, 4:07 PM
The Urban Institute (UI) says it appears that the current sellers' market is having a negative impact on government backed loans and the borrowers who...
Tue, Jul 6 2021, 4:04 PM
The past week saw a moderate drop in the number of loans in forbearance, but Black Knight, in its report for the week ended June 29, said the upcoming...
Tue, Jul 6 2021, 4:00 PM
Strong Start to a Slow Week
Bonds rallied today, both before and after the weak ISM Non-Manufacturing data. ...
Tue, Jul 6 2021, 11:08 AM
Dang it is becoming more and more expensive to follow all the rules and regulations to originate residential loans. These costs, of course, are borne ...
Tue, Jul 6 2021, 9:36 AM
2021 began with heavy selling pressure in bonds following the Georgia senate election (which gave full control of congress and the White House to one ...
Fri, Jul 2 2021, 3:34 PM
What To Make of The Post-NFP Rally
Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) beat forecasts (850k vs 700k), which is normally s...
Fri, Jul 2 2021, 11:27 AM
I realize that this is a commentary about lending, but it is good for MLOs to be cognizant of what their real estate agent client’s clients want… In a...
Fri, Jul 2 2021, 9:03 AM
While the headline for nonfarm payrolls (850k vs 700k f'cast) seems like cause for concern at first glance, the bond market is digesting it well so fa...
Thu, Jul 1 2021, 4:24 PM
Mortgage rates have had several good weeks now after being dealt a blow by the Fed announcement on June 16th. Said "blow" is relative , to say the lea...
Thu, Jul 1 2021, 3:14 PM
Uneventful Start to Q3, But Tomorrow is a Wild Card
There's always some risk that the first trading day of a...
Thu, Jul 1 2021, 11:27 AM
Construction spending fell off a bit in May, however residential construction remains the strongest sector , accounting for more than half the annuali...
Thu, Jul 1 2021, 11:25 AM
Pending home sales in April unnerved a lot of people. At what should have been a high point in the spring market, they fell 4.4 percent from the previ...
Thu, Jul 1 2021, 11:00 AM
Halfway done with 2021?! Yes, time is flying, and summer is here. The weather service just published instructions on how to bake a lasagna in your mai...
Thu, Jul 1 2021, 9:36 AM
The simple concept of timing is often underappreciated as a market mover. For instance, 820am and 3pm ET can often be sources of volatility simply be...
Wed, Jun 30 2021, 4:29 PM
Mortgage rates fell again today--now officially below the lowest levels in the past 2 weeks. In order to accomplish that, rates had to fully erase the...
Wed, Jun 30 2021, 4:11 PM
Failed Breakout Puts More Emphasis on End-of-Week Events
Notice that the headline didn't invoke "the jobs re...
Wed, Jun 30 2021, 10:57 AM
“Adam and Eve were the first people not to read the Apple terms and conditions.” Who has actually read their phone’s manual? Technology marches on, wi...
Wed, Jun 30 2021, 9:41 AM
Some people may pine for Fridays due to the end of a work week, or perhaps as the start of an extended weekend (as is the case with the impending exam...
Wed, Jun 30 2021, 9:34 AM
Mortgage applications fell sharply last week, affecting both refinance and purchase components of the Mortgage Banker Association's (MBA's) Market Com...
Tue, Jun 29 2021, 4:10 PM
Strong Data, But Even Stronger Sideways Grind
Bonds started the day in slightly weaker territory but moved v...
Tue, Jun 29 2021, 3:12 PM
Mortgage rates are primarily a function of trading levels in the bond market and bonds have enjoyed (or suffered) an interesting mix of volatility and...
Tue, Jun 29 2021, 1:17 PM
The government stakeholders involved in the various pandemic related forbearance programs appear to be directing their full attention to their upcomin...
Tue, Jun 29 2021, 1:14 PM
When the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller and Federal Housing Finance Agency's price reports for March were released we wrote that the superlatives were get...
Tue, Jun 29 2021, 10:57 AM
Ginnie Mae sent out a press release last week could create some confusion for those readers who only skimmed the lede. The opening paragraph states th...
Tue, Jun 29 2021, 10:45 AM
Say what you will about huge companies not having an impact on housing, MLOs can’t ignore the fact that they’re here. The latest example is global rea...
Tue, Jun 29 2021, 9:21 AM
Since the 2nd week of June, the bond market has been operating in a fairly narrow range with trading momentum being largely flat in the bigger picture...
Mon, Jun 28 2021, 4:38 PM
Monday Giveth
Summertime weekend trading dynamics are sadly a source of motivation for bond markets--especia...
Mon, Jun 28 2021, 11:38 AM
Freddie Mac reported this week that its total mortgage portfolio increased at an annualized rate of 8.6 percent in May compared to a 13.2 percent gain...
Mon, Jun 28 2021, 11:37 AM
The White House has announced another key appointee to a federal housing post. Julia Gordon has been named Assistant Secretary for Housing at the Depa...
Mon, Jun 28 2021, 11:36 AM
Black Knight reports that the number of loans in forbearance rose by 1,000 during the week ended June 22. The company says this was a continuation of ...
Mon, Jun 28 2021, 11:16 AM
Seattle will hit 110 degrees F today. Change is afoot. Last week changes of personnel within the CFPB and the FHFA (hence Fannie & Freddie) captured o...
Mon, Jun 28 2021, 10:39 AM
This week brings good potential for volatility as Friday represents the confluence of several individual events that are normally worth some volatilit...
Fri, Jun 25 2021, 11:56 AM
Small, Defensive Shift Heading Into The Weekend
The highest core inflation in decades proved to be no big de...
Fri, Jun 25 2021, 11:29 AM
As lenders are working on adjusting margins, best-ex, and staffing, while at the same time relieved that rates haven’t gone up and pipelines are motor...
Fri, Jun 25 2021, 10:07 AM
Much like the CPI data 2 weeks ago, today's PCE data showed the highest core inflation in decades. In fact, we'd have to go back almost 3 decades when...
Thu, Jun 24 2021, 3:26 PM
Bonds Snooze Through Data and Infrastructure Bill
The day began with a morning of lackluster econ data being...
Thu, Jun 24 2021, 11:41 AM
The White House didn't waste any time after a Supreme Court ruling allowed it to do so, removing Mark Calabria as Director of the Federal Housing Fina...
Thu, Jun 24 2021, 10:59 AM
In case you haven’t heard, the Supreme Court ruled that a U.S. president can remove the head of Federal Housing Finance Agency, in this case, Mark Cal...
Thu, Jun 24 2021, 10:22 AM
This week's supply of economic data is rapidly dwindling and we've yet to see a bond market reaction worth writing home about. This morning's crop pr...
Wed, Jun 23 2021, 3:58 PM
Sideways Grind Means More Focus on Next Jobs Report
As bonds continue to distance themselves from last week'...
Wed, Jun 23 2021, 2:51 PM
New home sales dropped for the second month in May, falling below an 800,000 unit pace for the first time in a year. The U.S. Census Bureau and the De...
Wed, Jun 23 2021, 2:49 PM
On Wednesday morning the Supreme Court ruled that the statutory restrictions on the president's ability to remove the chairman of the Federal Housing ...
Wed, Jun 23 2021, 11:04 AM
Folks are talking about how in-person mortgage conferences are coming back strong. For example, here in Florida that MBAF conference is approaching 30...
