Wed, Jul 10 2019, 2:31 PM
Mortgage rates were mixed today following the much-anticipated congressional testimony by Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Although these testimonies are regu...
Wed, Jul 10 2019, 9:59 AM
There are still, surprisingly, people who deny that climate change is occurring. There are plenty of low-lying areas of this country that are threaten...
Wed, Jul 10 2019, 9:16 AM
In the day just passed, bonds weakened slightly but remained inside the recent range. The weakness is in line with a linear trend leading to the uppe...
Wed, Jul 10 2019, 8:22 AM
Independence Day played the usual holiday havoc on mortgage applications data, but some trends were maintained. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA)...
Tue, Jul 9 2019, 3:59 PM
Bonds weakened today, even if only slightly. It was enough to bring 10yr yields right up to the closest and arguably most significant overhead tech...
Tue, Jul 9 2019, 3:07 PM
Mortgage rates rose today, largely in response to weakness in the bond market seen yesterday afternoon (and confirmed this morning). Mortgage rates fo...
Tue, Jul 9 2019, 1:59 PM
While it was only a small gain, the June increase in the Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI) was the sixth in a row . The Mortgage Bankers Assoc...
Tue, Jul 9 2019, 10:36 AM
The national delinquency rate declined by another 0.7 percent on an annual basis in April. Mortgage loans that were 30 or more days past due, includin...
Tue, Jul 9 2019, 9:21 AM
In the day just past, bonds began the week slowly and without much conviction. Friday's post-NFP weakness was essentially confirmed by the fact that ...
Tue, Jul 9 2019, 8:48 AM
I find it amusing when someone tells me, “The stock market is too risky for me. I have my money with some investment gal/guy.” What do you think they ...
Mon, Jul 8 2019, 6:01 PM
Today was the story of a bond market that is considering a potential shift in momentum in response to a confluence of events. These include last Frid...
Mon, Jul 8 2019, 5:28 PM
Mortgage rates began the day in slightly lower territory compared to last Friday afternoon, but they'd risen noticeably from Wednesday to Friday. The ...
Mon, Jul 8 2019, 3:38 PM
Consumers are beginning to buy into the idea that mortgage rates might go down, at least according to responses to the June National Housing Survey (N...
Mon, Jul 8 2019, 9:13 AM
In the week just past, bonds rallied hard into the Independence Day holiday. 10yr yields hit fresh multi-year lows before getting slammed by a jobs r...
Mon, Jul 8 2019, 8:55 AM
Welcome to “Work from Bed Day” around the nation. Okay, I just made that up, but it sounds enticing. Perhaps it would lead to greater worker satisfact...
Fri, Jul 5 2019, 6:04 PM
If we went back to Monday morning and learned that today's NFP number would come in at 224k, any sane person would have guessed yields would be much h...
Fri, Jul 5 2019, 5:11 PM
Mortgage rates moved higher today following higher-than-expected job creation in a report from the Labor Department. The Employment Situation (aka "th...
Fri, Jul 5 2019, 9:47 AM
The IRS has only been with us since 1862, modern nationwide income tax since 1913. But, just like the gfee income “share” with Freddie and Fannie, and...
Fri, Jul 5 2019, 8:31 AM
On Wednesday, bond markets digested two of the week's most important economic reports in the from of ADP employment and ISM non-manufacturing. Appoin...
Wed, Jul 3 2019, 2:19 PM
Mortgage rates fell at a moderate pace today. As expected, the lenders who hadn't gotten around to improving during yesterday's bond market rally (str...
Wed, Jul 3 2019, 12:02 PM
Seven or eight years ago the home sales headline was the entry of big institutional investors into the single-family market. These investors, many of ...
Wed, Jul 3 2019, 9:05 AM
I was in Park City, Utah recently, and the real estate agents gave me an interesting statistic: it is believed that 80% of the land and buildings are ...
Wed, Jul 3 2019, 8:16 AM
Mortgage application activity during the week ended June 28 was largely unchanged from the week that preceded it. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MB...
Wed, Jul 3 2019, 8:15 AM
In the day just past, the bond market finally made its first move outside of the recent consolidation range--a series of lower highs and higher lows t...
Tue, Jul 2 2019, 4:55 PM
In the amusement park that is financial markets, each asset class has a few favorite rides. When the place is packed, it's tough for any given asset ...
Tue, Jul 2 2019, 3:33 PM
Mortgage rates moved down today by varying amounts depending on the lender. In some cases, lenders weren't offering much of an improvement over yester...
Tue, Jul 2 2019, 11:26 AM
The shrinking rate of home price increases that has headlined the price data from most sources for months may have ended, at least according to CoreLo...
Tue, Jul 2 2019, 10:10 AM
This weekend I helped my son change apartments in San Francisco, and all over were billboards for ZeroDown.com : “Smartest Way to Buy a Home.” And if ...
Tue, Jul 2 2019, 9:41 AM
In the day just past, bonds did an admirable job of fending off the implications of the weekend's G20 news (US/China reopening trade talks, etc). Whi...
Mon, Jul 1 2019, 6:07 PM
There was certainly some risk of volatility associated with the G20 summit over the weekend, even if no one expected it to produce any fundamental cha...
Mon, Jul 1 2019, 5:30 PM
Mortgage rates were slightly higher to start the new week, which is a pretty good outcome considering the underlying events. On Friday, we anticipated...
Mon, Jul 1 2019, 11:59 AM
Construction spending in May, dipping 0.8 percent compared to April's seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.304 trillion to $1.294 trillion. On an ann...
Mon, Jul 1 2019, 9:37 AM
In the week just past, bonds avoided a negative correction following the previous week's Fed-induced rally. There was plenty of back and forth, but i...
Mon, Jul 1 2019, 9:24 AM
May mortgage performance data indicates that the mortgage finance industry might consider shifting priorities for a while. Black Knight, in the curren...
Mon, Jul 1 2019, 9:12 AM
Huh? We’re in the 3rd quarter of 2019 already? To where did the first six months fly off? I am hearing from some lenders that solid April, May, and Ju...
Fri, Jun 28 2019, 3:01 PM
Bonds were perfectly unchanged to start the day after the smallest amount of overnight movement we've seen all week. This is a palpable reminder th...
Fri, Jun 28 2019, 12:59 PM
Mortgage rates enjoyed a pleasantly flat week despite some volatility in the underlying bond market. The day-to-day changes in Treasuries and Mortgage...
Fri, Jun 28 2019, 9:09 AM
VA lenders are talking about the “cap” being removed as the Department of Veterans Affairs can now back loans that exceed the conforming loan limit. P...
Fri, Jun 28 2019, 8:34 AM
In the day just past, both stocks and bonds showed a greater predisposition to react to trade-related headlines (more so in stocks, but noticeable in ...
Thu, Jun 27 2019, 5:33 PM
Stop me if you've heard this one before: bonds have been trading in a mostly sideways, consolidative range ahead of what should prove to be key events...
Thu, Jun 27 2019, 4:19 PM
Mortgage rates rose to the week's highest levels yesterday, but they moved back down today . Although there have been slightly better days over the pa...
Thu, Jun 27 2019, 3:46 PM
A household's decision between buying a home and renting one is being increasingly determined by its student loan debt and childcare cost burdens acco...
Thu, Jun 27 2019, 10:22 AM
Pending home sales got back on track in May , increasing by 1.1 percent after a 1.5 percent setback in April. The National Association of Realtors® (N...
Thu, Jun 27 2019, 9:32 AM
Did you know that in 2018 the U.S. birth rate dropped for the fourth consecutive year? In fact the number of people born in the United States last yea...
Thu, Jun 27 2019, 8:43 AM
In the day just past, bond markets weakened at a reasonably quick pace. The initial motivation was a headline regarding the prospects of a US/China t...
Wed, Jun 26 2019, 5:22 PM
Things have been bright and sunny for the bond market without any troubling exceptions since mid-April. During that time we've only seen 10yr yields ...
Wed, Jun 26 2019, 4:46 PM
Mortgage rates hadn't moved much since last Friday--a good thing considering those levels were in line with the lowest levels in a long time. The grou...
Wed, Jun 26 2019, 9:59 AM
In the day just past, bonds extended the gains seen on Monday with 10yr yields hitting 1.98% before encountering resistance. The gains are most readi...
Wed, Jun 26 2019, 9:44 AM
Freddie Mac reported this week that its total mortgage portfolio increased at an annualized rate of 7.5 percent in May , increasing from 6.2 percent t...
Wed, Jun 26 2019, 8:35 AM
When I grow up, I want to own… 16,000 single family homes? Yes, here’s an article about how artificial intelligence has helped a landlord, and fund, a...
