Mon, Aug 3 2020, 10:40 AM
The National Home Builders Association (NHBA) has been saying since the COVID-19 virus first began to ravage the economy, that it might be housing tha...
Mon, Aug 3 2020, 9:23 AM
Now that bonds have broken through previous resistance levels (.58 in 10yr yields and 103.00 in 2.0 UMBS), what comes next? Rather than look for fast-...
Mon, Aug 3 2020, 8:57 AM
Remember a month ago, heading into the July 4th weekend, a resurgence of Covid-19 cases (which many officials attributed to large Memorial Day gatheri...
Fri, Jul 31 2020, 5:09 PM
Mortgage rates have fallen more aggressively than ever and they've been remarkably willing to set record after record. So is there any reason you shou...
Fri, Jul 31 2020, 5:04 PM
All-Time Levels All Around. Here's How To Play It
Another day, another opportunity for MBS prices to hit re...
Fri, Jul 31 2020, 10:20 AM
As of Wednesday, there were 4.102 million mortgages in forbearance plans. This is 7.7 percent of the 53 million loans in servicer portfolios. Black Kn...
Fri, Jul 31 2020, 8:50 AM
There's no doubt you'll see excellent mortgage rates when this morning's rate sheets come out. Many lenders will be at or below their previous all-ti...
Fri, Jul 31 2020, 8:48 AM
Whether it is Northern Virginia or Lake Tahoe , we’re running out of houses. The pandemic has caused a buyer feeding frenzy away from apartments and c...
Thu, Jul 30 2020, 5:34 PM
The performance of mortgage loan servicers is lacking in the eyes of many of their customers, even this early in the pandemic driven recession. J.D. P...
Thu, Jul 30 2020, 5:32 PM
Both government supported enterprises (GSE) reported increased profits in the second quarter of 2020 compared to Q1. Fannie Mae said its net comprehen...
Thu, Jul 30 2020, 3:55 PM
Bonds Break The Range, But Mortgage Rates Are Dragging Their Feet
The simple version of the story: mortgage ...
Thu, Jul 30 2020, 9:42 AM
Lenders are “tonning it,” as indicated by Fannie Mae’s net income of $2.5 billion for the second quarter of 2020, compared with net income of $461 mil...
Thu, Jul 30 2020, 8:21 AM
Cases are made all the time. Some of them are surefire victories from the start. Others lack the evidence required for a compelling conclusion. The...
Wed, Jul 29 2020, 4:34 PM
Mortgage rates improved nicely overnight. The average lender's morning rates were very close to the lowest levels ever . This was a distinct possibili...
Wed, Jul 29 2020, 4:34 PM
Bonds Break Key Levels After Fed
Both MBS and Treasuries were right on the edge of their recent ranges headi...
Wed, Jul 29 2020, 2:02 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, Jul 29 2020, 10:59 AM
Pending home sales soared again in June, although the liftoff was relatively shallow compared to the 43 percent increase in May. The National Associat...
Wed, Jul 29 2020, 9:35 AM
You’ve made it to Hump Day yet again, and as a reward, how about this webcam shot of Warrior Canine Connection’s Puppy Cam ?! (Hey, it’s my commentary...
Wed, Jul 29 2020, 9:22 AM
Freddie Mac reported this week that its total mortgage portfolio increased at an annualized rate of 14.2 percent in June compared to a 5.5 percent gai...
Wed, Jul 29 2020, 9:13 AM
Pound for pound, nothing has more power to move the bond market than Federal Reserve Announcements. We'll get one at 2pm today, but it remains to be...
Wed, Jul 29 2020, 8:37 AM
Mortgage application volume declined for the first time in four weeks during the week ended July 24. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said is Ma...
Tue, Jul 28 2020, 5:05 PM
Mortgage rates did something over the past 3 days that they haven't done since early June . They moved sideways to slightly higher ! At the same time,...
Tue, Jul 28 2020, 3:42 PM
Nice Recovery But Resistance Remains
Rates were under pressure overnight with 10yr hitting the highest yield...
Tue, Jul 28 2020, 11:53 AM
The U.S. homeownership rate moved significantly higher in the second quarter of 2020, reaching the highest level since the third quarter of 2008 at a ...
Tue, Jul 28 2020, 11:48 AM
Home prices increases slowed slightly in May on both a month-over-month and an annual basis according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices. The U...
Tue, Jul 28 2020, 9:37 AM
I could see that my cat Myrtle was miffed last night. I doubt if it had anything to do with the supply chain issues impacting appliances and new home ...
Tue, Jul 28 2020, 8:57 AM
Today is the second day of this week's prologue. We're getting a sense of the market's underlying biases, but we haven't yet arrived at the bigger-ti...
Mon, Jul 27 2020, 4:58 PM
Mortgage rates have been falling so much and with such regularity in 2020 that there's scarcely been a reason (or even an opportunity) to talk about a...
Mon, Jul 27 2020, 3:26 PM
Bonds Beginning The Week on The Defensive
After weeks of gradual strength in bonds, this week begins with ra...
Mon, Jul 27 2020, 11:39 AM
The National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB') Housing Trends Report for the second quarter of 2020 found slightly less than a quarter of prospect...
Mon, Jul 27 2020, 8:57 AM
In these days when you can’t even get 100% of Americans to agree that water is wet, we have hurricanes, gold prices skyrocketing, COVID relief debates...
Mon, Jul 27 2020, 8:46 AM
As far as weeks with plenty of potentially relevant scheduled events on tap, this one does not disappoint. The only question is how much markets will...
Fri, Jul 24 2020, 4:16 PM
The bond market saw yet another week with rates in a holding pattern at historic lows. With coronavirus being the primary motivation for rates, it wou...
Fri, Jul 24 2020, 4:01 PM
Why The Range Risk in Treasuries Matters to Mortgages
We've been following .58% in 10yr yields for months as...
Fri, Jul 24 2020, 11:00 AM
New Home sales have done it again, rising for the third straight month. The U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development estimat...
Fri, Jul 24 2020, 10:50 AM
It had been threatened from the beginning of the Trump administration, but this week the hammer fell. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development...
Fri, Jul 24 2020, 10:01 AM
I don’t know if there is going to be a pro football season or not, with lines of scrimmage & heavy breathing 11 inches apart for hundreds of linemen e...
Fri, Jul 24 2020, 9:50 AM
Black Knight notes a slight increase in the number of forbearance plans in effect this week even as the number of forborne loans serviced for the GSEs...
Fri, Jul 24 2020, 9:22 AM
There was a time in the very recent past when we could almost completely ignore the implications of 10yr Treasury yield movement on mortgage rates. W...
Fri, Jul 24 2020, 9:02 AM
While serious delinquencies felt the first impact from the COVID-19 pandemic in June, overall delinquencies were actually lower. Black Knight's "first...
Thu, Jul 23 2020, 5:01 PM
Mortgage rates improved almost imperceptibly this morning compared to yesterday afternoon. With that, the average lender was just a hair below the pre...
Thu, Jul 23 2020, 4:15 PM
Rates Having a Tough Time Breaking Lower, At Least For Now
We've been following .58% in 10yr yields for mont...
Thu, Jul 23 2020, 10:24 AM
The Urban Institute (UI) is speculating that a new penalty imposed on loan originators and arising out of the COVID-19 forbearance plans is beginning ...
Thu, Jul 23 2020, 9:38 AM
Loan officers are known for “holding the hand” of their borrowers. Now Google would like to hold the other. With the help of the CFPB, and launched ye...
Thu, Jul 23 2020, 9:07 AM
We've talked a fair amount about the balance between fundamental and technical analysis recently. These are the two main schools of thought when ...
Wed, Jul 22 2020, 3:27 PM
A Small Risk in a Pile of Good News
For rates and the bond market, the news has been almost exclusively good...
Wed, Jul 22 2020, 11:35 AM
Existing home sales ended a three-month string of losses arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic with a flourish, soaring by 20.7 percent from May to Jun...
Wed, Jul 22 2020, 10:42 AM
House prices fell in May, although they remain well ahead of prices a year earlier. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) said its House Price Ind...
Wed, Jul 22 2020, 9:14 AM
Remember the trade war? That was the thing that singlehandedly caused massive movement in the bond market in 2019. Trade tensions have been mountin...
Wed, Jul 22 2020, 8:17 AM
Even with some interest rates ticking higher, both purchase and refinance activity increased last week. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said it...
