Wed, Oct 17 2018, 8:46 AM
As thousands of MBA conference attendees head for the DC airports, what’s the chatter? Regulators who want to remind lenders that not being able to af...
Wed, Oct 17 2018, 8:25 AM
Purchase mortgage originations are expected to increase a bit in 2019, but not by enough to offset the continuing decline in refinancing. A forecast f...
Wed, Oct 17 2018, 8:14 AM
Mortgage applications were down last week by the largest seasonally adjusted percentage since September 2017 . The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) ...
Tue, Oct 16 2018, 4:30 PM
The S&P recovered roughly half of its losses from last week today, decisively breaking out of the consolidation pattern that had been in place throu...
Tue, Oct 16 2018, 4:11 PM
Mortgage rates didn't move much today. Some lenders were perfectly unchanged, but the average lender was just slightly higher. That's at odds with und...
Tue, Oct 16 2018, 10:59 AM
Recent research from Trulia shows home price reductions are increasing . The share of homes for sale that have had at least one price cut since being ...
Tue, Oct 16 2018, 10:54 AM
Builder confidence ticked up 1 point in October, rising to 68. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), which produces the NAHB/Wells Fargo H...
Tue, Oct 16 2018, 10:29 AM
What’s not being covered by the mainstream press here at the MBA conference? How about, given the rough financial conditions, monthly (and not quarter...
Tue, Oct 16 2018, 8:40 AM
Waiting... That's all anyone has been doing since last Thursday in financial markets. One day prior, stocks jumped off a cliff and bond yields raced ...
Mon, Oct 15 2018, 5:32 PM
This morning's Retail Sales report was arguably the biggest-ticket of the week in terms of economic data. It speaks to the ongoing level of uncerta...
Mon, Oct 15 2018, 5:13 PM
MBA President and CEO Bob Broeksmit, the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA's) newly installed president and CEO, delivered his inaugural speech to M...
Mon, Oct 15 2018, 4:43 PM
Mortgage rates were sideways to slightly higher today, prolonging a 3-day trend of exceptionally light volatility. The 5 days before that (beginning o...
Mon, Oct 15 2018, 10:27 AM
Freddie Mac is announcing a couple of enhancements to its Loan Advisor underwriting tool. The additional capabilities will allow lenders to automate t...
Mon, Oct 15 2018, 9:08 AM
What’s new here at the MBA’s conference in Washington DC? Plenty of secretive M&A closed-door meetings, continued talk that Ginnie is carefully eying ...
Mon, Oct 15 2018, 9:04 AM
Before last week's stock rout, bonds were stuck in a rut. For four straight sessions, they hit the highest intraday yields since 2011. Even after ...
Fri, Oct 12 2018, 7:07 PM
Referring to the week of bond trading as " crazy " is a bit of a stretch. If we bring stocks into the mix, or if we go back to last Wednesday, it's b...
Fri, Oct 12 2018, 6:41 PM
Mortgage rates held relatively steady today, finally leveling off after two solid days of improvement driven by the week's big stock market sell-off. ...
Fri, Oct 12 2018, 11:35 AM
Mortgage denial rates ebb and flow with the economy, with lenders appetite for risk, and sometimes with the pressure lenders feel to make loans. Denia...
Fri, Oct 12 2018, 9:59 AM
Is there potential for today to turn into a "black Friday" with catastrophic stock losses that usher in the most amazing bond rally we've seen in year...
Fri, Oct 12 2018, 9:10 AM
“Rob, are you hearing about investors taking more of a hard line on every issue right now? In recent years they would give an extra day, or waive some...
Fri, Oct 12 2018, 8:48 AM
Want to get that reluctant customer who has been "about to" buy a home for months a little push? If an analysis by the Urban Institute (UI) as reporte...
Fri, Oct 12 2018, 8:26 AM
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reports a drop in applications for the purchase of newly constructed homes last month. Those applications fell ...
Thu, Oct 11 2018, 6:16 PM
Bonds rallied today, eventually. Most of the session was fairly flat with the afternoon bringing most of the rally thanks to another sell-off in st...
Thu, Oct 11 2018, 5:08 PM
Mortgage rates fell today as the stock market sell-off remained in focus. Stocks and rates certainly don't have a linear and predictable relationship,...
Thu, Oct 11 2018, 9:25 AM
Anything more than 20 points is a big day of selling in terms of the S&P, but that's a small enough number to be relatively common, periodically. Fro...
Thu, Oct 11 2018, 9:04 AM
We’re in the middle of mortgage conference season. (Are there any apple orchards left with all the applewood smoked bacon served at breakfasts?) The M...
Wed, Oct 10 2018, 6:35 PM
Remember last Wednesday? Rather forget it? Yeah, me too.
That was the day that bond yields spiked last week. The size and speed of the move was o...
Wed, Oct 10 2018, 5:58 PM
Mortgage rates are based on mortgage-backed securities (MBS), which are essentially bonds. Conventional wisdom holds that stocks and bonds supplement ...
Wed, Oct 10 2018, 5:00 PM
It was largely ignored with the ongoing rush of news from Washington, but late last month Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) introduced a bill she says i...
Wed, Oct 10 2018, 9:36 AM
One of the most important themes I've tried to communicate over the past 2 weeks is that the bond market is in the middle of redefining or repricing...
Wed, Oct 10 2018, 8:52 AM
As Hurricane Michael heads toward Florida & Georgia (with the wind and storm surge, lenders and investors act – for example, Mr. Cooper has temporaril...
Wed, Oct 10 2018, 8:11 AM
Mortgage application activity declined during the week as the 30-year mortgage rate crossed the 5.0 percent line for the first time in seven years and...
Tue, Oct 9 2018, 5:12 PM
Today was a freebie for bond markets (and stocks to some extent). In the grand scheme of things, no one will look back at today and conclude anythi...
Tue, Oct 9 2018, 4:32 PM
Mortgage rates recovered a small portion of their recent losses today, but the average loan applicant might not even notice. The 2 key ingredients of ...
Tue, Oct 9 2018, 9:06 AM
2009-2013 was an unprecedented time for the US bond market. It benefited not only from the initial blast of the Great Recession and the sluggish re...
Tue, Oct 9 2018, 8:59 AM
Maybe I read somewhere that the average age of a loan officer is 76. Maybe not. (Actually, my visits with companies informally indicate that overall a...
Tue, Oct 9 2018, 8:29 AM
Hurricane Florence, the storm that tore up much of eastern North and South Caroline in September, may be especially disastrous in terms of VA loans. B...
Tue, Oct 9 2018, 8:16 AM
It appears that, while Americans are generally upbeat about the economy, housing, and their own financial fortunes, they have a little difficulty main...
Fri, Oct 5 2018, 8:48 PM
The jobs report may have missed the mark in terms of payrolls, but average hourly earnings put in its 4th straight month holding 2.8% (y/y) or high...
Fri, Oct 5 2018, 3:21 PM
Mortgage rates moved back over the 5% threshold, on average, for the first time since early 2011 today following mixed data on the jobs market. Why wo...
Fri, Oct 5 2018, 10:52 AM
Mortgage lenders have been increasingly reporting tighter margins as costs rise for each actual loan transaction. In the last few years the principal ...
Fri, Oct 5 2018, 8:58 AM
“Rob, is any lender making money out there?” Well, what’s the old “joke?” “How do you get $5 million in the mortgage biz? Start with $10 million!” Not...
Fri, Oct 5 2018, 8:30 AM
At this point, there's nothing left to be said or done in preparation for today's NFP data. Bonds stand on the edge of the most recent abyss. This t...
Thu, Oct 4 2018, 4:48 PM
If you're looking for today's recap, check out the Huddle. Or just know that we sold-off a bit more and then settled sideways, fairly close to yester...
Thu, Oct 4 2018, 3:44 PM
If you don't happen to make it past this first sentence, just know that anyone telling you rates are much higher today is NOT lying to you. Anyone tel...
Thu, Oct 4 2018, 10:54 AM
The availability of mortgage credit at least as measured by the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA's) Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI) pulle...
Thu, Oct 4 2018, 10:44 AM
Lesson learned? Whether they saw their credit decimated by the housing crisis and the Great Recession or merely watched loan standards tightened beyon...
Thu, Oct 4 2018, 9:30 AM
If you didn't catch it, and want to get caught up with yesterday's big move, this tweet has several links that should bring you thoroughly up to speed...
Thu, Oct 4 2018, 9:14 AM
In bad news, mortgage rates went up about .25% yesterday. In good news, more homes are going up for sale. According to realtor.com there was a Septemb...
Thu, Oct 4 2018, 8:12 AM
Nearly two years ago the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) approved Underserved Market Plans from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These plans, part of...
