Thu, Aug 27 2020, 3:42 PM
Has Everything Changed After Powell Speech?
Powell's speech was the only Fed communication on the calendar t...
Thu, Aug 27 2020, 10:34 AM
While Louisiana is focused on Hurricane Laura, 2,200 miles away California is focused on its wildfires… and regulations. Remember that about 25 percen...
Thu, Aug 27 2020, 10:17 AM
July marked the third consecutive outsized increase in the Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) produced by the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) It ...
Thu, Aug 27 2020, 8:51 AM
If you don't want to read to the end to get the answer posed in the headline, here is a spoiler:
Yes, a new framework is both good and bad for bonds...
Thu, Aug 27 2020, 8:16 AM
While the Gulf Coast escaped the threat of two simultaneous hurricane hits, the remaining storm, Hurricane Laura, looks like an historically dangerous...
Thu, Aug 27 2020, 8:07 AM
Freddie Mac reported this week that its total mortgage portfolio increased at an annualized rate of 20.0 percent in July compared to a 14.2 percent ga...
Wed, Aug 26 2020, 4:21 PM
LLPA Impact vs Powell Speech. Time to Lock?
Much has been made (by news media... not bond market participan...
Wed, Aug 26 2020, 4:05 PM
With several major developments and interesting milestones in the mortgage world, I'm seeing a lot more confusion than normal. So let's clear it up wi...
Wed, Aug 26 2020, 9:58 AM
There's a global pandemic. On the one hand, it seems to be improving. On the other, it's responsible for a potentially permanent shift in the US lab...
Wed, Aug 26 2020, 8:13 AM
Mortgage applications volume fell for the second time during the week ended August 21, declining 6.5 percent from the previous week according to the M...
Tue, Aug 25 2020, 4:28 PM
Two weeks ago, Fannie and Freddie announced a new guaranty fee (aka "g-fee") for virtually all refinances. To say this has been a hot topic for the mo...
Tue, Aug 25 2020, 4:21 PM
New Curveball as LLPA Just Got Delayed Until Dec 1
There are two huddle videos today. The newest and most r...
Tue, Aug 25 2020, 12:02 PM
New home sales were expected to dip slightly in July after posting 13.8 percent growth in June and setting a 13-year high. Instead, the June sales wer...
Tue, Aug 25 2020, 11:55 AM
Both the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA's) Housing Price Index (HPI) and the several S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller indices showed price gains acr...
Tue, Aug 25 2020, 10:08 AM
Any conversation about momentum, victory, or defeat in the bond market must be prefaced with the acknowledgment that we're dealing with what would his...
Tue, Aug 25 2020, 9:17 AM
2019: Stay away from negative people. 2020: Stay away from positive people. Like it or not, depending on how “old school” you are, companies in recent...
Mon, Aug 24 2020, 3:49 PM
More Defensive But Not Without Hope
2 weeks ago, a heavy slate of supply contributed to small-scale panic in...
Mon, Aug 24 2020, 10:21 AM
Last week did a nice job of confirming a ceiling in Treasury yields after the previous week saw rates move sharply higher. At the same time the S&P...
Mon, Aug 24 2020, 9:21 AM
Winter is coming. I don’t need a new coat to walk from my bedroom through the kitchen and into the dining room to work on this commentary. Who is buyi...
Fri, Aug 21 2020, 5:18 PM
Several new reports confirm the housing market is soaring right now, but the headlines don't tell the whole story. On Friday, the National Association...
Fri, Aug 21 2020, 5:17 PM
A Week of Reassurance For The Bond Market
Last week saw the first major break higher after a calm, sustained...
Fri, Aug 21 2020, 12:08 PM
Like the report from Black Knight earlier today, the second quarter National Delinquency Survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association shows the effect...
Fri, Aug 21 2020, 11:38 AM
Existing-home sales posted a second month of significant sales gains in July, building on a record 20.7 percent increase in June. The National Associa...
Fri, Aug 21 2020, 11:29 AM
The financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are beginning to emerge and while it appears the crisis initially hit homeowners hard, the duration of ...
Fri, Aug 21 2020, 10:13 AM
RCIII writes, “I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for some precedented times.” But Tom Petty wrote, “Well, the good old days, may not return… And t...
Fri, Aug 21 2020, 9:19 AM
Coronavirus obviously ushered in an era of record low rates. The ongoing challenges and uncertainties are fairly well understood. They have a wide s...
Thu, Aug 20 2020, 6:15 PM
Robert Dietz, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has provided a couple of updates on housing construction trends tak...
Thu, Aug 20 2020, 4:58 PM
Mortgage rates moved a bit lower today, on average, but that's not what most of the mortgage-related headlines are saying today. Reason being, journal...
Thu, Aug 20 2020, 4:49 PM
MBS Underperforming Treasuries, But Broader Trends Are Decent
The mortgage market continues coping with the ...
Thu, Aug 20 2020, 10:01 AM
Realistically, Europe has been as big of a friend to US bond markets as the Fed. If it weren't for Greek concerns and the mounting systemic crisis, U...
Thu, Aug 20 2020, 9:06 AM
In these times that lenders describe as busy, profitable, and overheated, capital markets personnel are focused on margin & capacity management, staff...
Wed, Aug 19 2020, 4:43 PM
Fed Minutes and LLPA Hangover Hurting Rates
Mortgage rates have been quite rebellious in 2020 when it comes ...
Wed, Aug 19 2020, 3:43 PM
Mortgage rates are still coping with the after-effects of last week's surprise implementation of a new fee on refinances. The fee in question is techn...
Wed, Aug 19 2020, 11:48 AM
Refinance loans continued to dominate mortgage originations in July, but the gap with purchase loans is closing. Ellie Mae's Origination Insight Repor...
Wed, Aug 19 2020, 9:58 AM
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is proposing a new category of qualified mortgage (QM) which it says is intended to "encourage innovat...
Wed, Aug 19 2020, 9:21 AM
Three weeks ago the Commentary included a webcam shot of Warrior Canine Connection’s Puppy Cam . (They’ve grown. Rated PG, depending on what they’re u...
Wed, Aug 19 2020, 9:02 AM
I talked yesterday about rates "reconnecting with the bond market," and that's an assertion that needs some more clarification on several levels. By ...
Wed, Aug 19 2020, 8:27 AM
Mortgage rates rose during the week ending August 14 and, while purchase applications sustained some of their momentum, a slowdown in refinancing pull...
Tue, Aug 18 2020, 4:55 PM
Rates Are Reconnecting With Bond Market Movement
After last week's LLPA news, lenders pulled back pricing fo...
Tue, Aug 18 2020, 10:53 AM
Residential construction rates soared in July with both permits and starts increasing from their June pace by double digits and topping 2019 numbers f...
Tue, Aug 18 2020, 10:20 AM
“Last night I was a hero! I rescued some beer that was trapped in a bottle.” All of our lives are changing, and thank you to Lydia O. for sending alon...
Tue, Aug 18 2020, 9:29 AM
It's age-old conventional wisdom. Buy stocks, sell bonds, vice versa, risk-on vs risk-off. One of the most common questions I receive over the years...
Mon, Aug 17 2020, 4:30 PM
Mortgage rates managed to improve modestly for the average lender today, but they remain significantly higher than they were before last week's regula...
Mon, Aug 17 2020, 4:06 PM
At the midway point of the current (3 rd ) quarter Fannie Mae is looking for a huge improvement in the gross domestic product (GDP). The company's Eco...
Mon, Aug 17 2020, 3:57 PM
Mortgage Market Looking For a Better Week For Two Reasons
Last week was unpleasant in the mortgage world, to...
Mon, Aug 17 2020, 10:21 AM
Builders have tied their 32-year old record for confidence as measured by the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (...
Mon, Aug 17 2020, 10:13 AM
Out in California and parts of the West it’s “hotter than Satan’s house cat.” California is once again having rolling power outages, and an opinion pi...
Mon, Aug 17 2020, 9:25 AM
Last week was unpleasant in the mortgage world, to say the least. Rates suffered a double whammy due to the surprise 50bp LLPA on refis and the trend ...
Fri, Aug 14 2020, 9:27 PM
With rates near all-time lows, millions of homeowners are frantically refinancing. Borrowers often think the only pertinent question is “ how much can...
Fri, Aug 14 2020, 5:47 PM
Boring Day For Bonds, But Tension Remains For Mortgages
Rates continued reeling (depending on the lender) fr...
