Mon, Dec 3 2018, 4:16 PM
Mortgage rates didn't really improve today for the average lender, but they did manage to hit the lowest rates in 2 months on a technicality. The reas...
Mon, Dec 3 2018, 12:22 PM
Construction spending was lower on a month-over-month basis in October, but an increase in public sector spending held the overall decline to a minimu...
Mon, Dec 3 2018, 8:57 AM
Much like the person on a journey of self-improvement might hear a trite pep talk about today being the first day of the rest of their life, bond mark...
Mon, Dec 3 2018, 8:49 AM
I admit that I’ve become jaded over the years. Another potential government shutdown comes and goes. As always, our industry, and more importantly tho...
Fri, Nov 30 2018, 4:06 PM
In and of itself, today's trading session wasn't anything special. There wasn't much by way of economic data (just Chicago PMI, which fell on deaf ...
Fri, Nov 30 2018, 3:02 PM
Mortgage rates may have ebbed slightly higher today, but that only erased a fraction of the improvement seen over the past 2 days. Combined with the e...
Fri, Nov 30 2018, 11:17 AM
Freddie Mac reported this week that its total mortgage portfolio increased at an annualized rate of 4.7 percent in October, up from 2.3 percent the pr...
Fri, Nov 30 2018, 10:05 AM
Relative to the last 2 years of pain for bond markets, a sense of hope has emerged, seemingly overnight. That has to do with the fact that bonds (as ...
Fri, Nov 30 2018, 9:40 AM
Financial concerns continued for independent mortgage banks and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered banks as they reported, on average, declining profi...
Fri, Nov 30 2018, 8:58 AM
As one Native American said, “Only a white man would cut two inches from the top of a blanket, sew it to the bottom, and think he has now has a longer...
Thu, Nov 29 2018, 5:01 PM
There have been two distinct phases to the bond market rally that followed yesterday's speech by Fed Chair Powell. The first was fairly logical in ...
Thu, Nov 29 2018, 4:28 PM
Mortgage rates surged lower today, falling at the fastest single-day pace in more than a year. In order to see the average lender offer lower rates, y...
Thu, Nov 29 2018, 10:45 AM
Yes, MLO commissions are dropping. But the traditional 6% real estate agent commission continues to be under attack as well, the latest salvo fired fr...
Thu, Nov 29 2018, 10:24 AM
Pending home sales in October failed to build on their small September gains - only the second uptick in six months. The Pending Home Sales Index (PHS...
Thu, Nov 29 2018, 9:42 AM
I use the baseball/lead-off analogy quite a bit to refer to a range breakout that occurs before the important event that is most likely to cause a bre...
Wed, Nov 28 2018, 4:31 PM
Today was interesting for bond markets in the sense that it certainly FELT like a nice day with solid gains. This has to do with the noticeable ral...
Wed, Nov 28 2018, 3:32 PM
The party is probably over for the time being when it comes to rate-and-term (i.e. "no cash out") refinancing. But even as rising interest rates stead...
Wed, Nov 28 2018, 2:27 PM
Mortgage rates began the day just like they've begun each of the past 5 business days: perfectly unchanged! As we discussed yesterday, the recent abse...
Wed, Nov 28 2018, 11:53 AM
With both interest rates and home prices rising it is nearly impossible to find a housing forecast that doesn't include the word " cooling ." The Nove...
Wed, Nov 28 2018, 11:16 AM
New home sales were expected to make a strong showing in October; the consensus of analysts polled by Econoday was for a sharp increase from the Septe...
Wed, Nov 28 2018, 9:27 AM
This morning's chart looks complicated at first glance, but it's actually very simple. It doesn't even matter if you're familiar with candlestick cha...
Wed, Nov 28 2018, 8:52 AM
Sorry for the length of the commentary today, but there’s a lot going on. In most of the U.S., the 2019 maximum conforming loan limit for one-unit pro...
Wed, Nov 28 2018, 8:14 AM
Even though the week was shortened by the Thanksgiving holiday MBA's Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage application volume, managed a 5.5 p...
Tue, Nov 27 2018, 5:54 PM
Volume may be picking up for the bond market following the typically quiet Thanksgiving trading week, but you wouldn't know it by looking at the move...
Tue, Nov 27 2018, 4:47 PM
Mortgage rates avoided returning to reality yet again today. In other words, rates were almost perfectly unchanged for the 4th straight business day. ...
Tue, Nov 27 2018, 1:05 PM
Given the rapid run-up in home prices over the last year, it's no surprise that loan limits will also be going up in 2019. The Federal Housing Finance...
Tue, Nov 27 2018, 11:28 AM
The views about the direction of home prices diverged slightly in September, as those reported in the S&P CoreLogic Case Shiller indices slowed for th...
Tue, Nov 27 2018, 9:33 AM
Oil prices are always interesting to consider when it comes to bond markets. After all, oil is a major cost input for the economy. Even the "core" i...
Tue, Nov 27 2018, 9:02 AM
Will today or tomorrow bring the 2019 Freddie and Fannie loan limit change announcement? Stay tuned, as it usually released soon after Thanksgiving. I...
Tue, Nov 27 2018, 8:18 AM
Mortgage delinquencies spiked in the September "first look" report from Black Knight, but that was followed by a swift reversal in October. The compan...
Mon, Nov 26 2018, 4:39 PM
Most of today's bond market movement followed a single trade in the morning hours. Someone with deep pockets bought a lot of 2yr Treasury debt and ...
Mon, Nov 26 2018, 3:59 PM
Mortgage rates began the post-holiday week by holding the same sideways posture seen last week during the slow market days surrounding Thanksgiving. G...
Mon, Nov 26 2018, 11:34 AM
"Possibly the only thing worse than a world in which homeownership doesn't work as a wealth-building tool is a world in which it does work as a wealth...
Mon, Nov 26 2018, 9:14 AM
Markets will be getting back into the swing of things (probably slowly) today after the Thanksgiving holiday. As we discussed excessively last week, ...
Mon, Nov 26 2018, 9:01 AM
I want a free vacation! I want a free fancy car in the garage in my newly-built McMansion! Apparently, due to sagging sales, with some builders I can ...
Fri, Nov 23 2018, 2:59 PM
Mortgage rates were every bit as flat as expected today. That's a good thing at the moment, considering we're holding in line with the lowest levels i...
Fri, Nov 23 2018, 10:08 AM
The share of loans that were for refinancing and those where borrowers opted for adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) both ticked up in October , with the...
Fri, Nov 23 2018, 9:11 AM
I could go on and on about why it makes so very little sense for today to be a business day and for Thursday to be the official Thanksgiving holiday...
Fri, Nov 23 2018, 8:53 AM
"Why is it that when the CDC warns us to not eat romaine lettuce, we take it as gospel. But when the CDC tells us that vaccines save lives, we think t...
Wed, Nov 21 2018, 5:46 PM
Bond markets have a habit of getting progressively more quiet heading into Thanksgiving. It's not the kind of thing you should bank on from a strat...
Wed, Nov 21 2018, 4:55 PM
Mortgage rates were almost perfectly flat today, and have been largely unchanged since last Friday. If you were forced to predict such a thing at the ...
Wed, Nov 21 2018, 11:55 AM
Existing home sales broke their extended losing streak in October, increasing 1.4 percent from September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.22 ...
Wed, Nov 21 2018, 9:22 AM
I used to be annoyed by the word "consolidation." It was on a short-list of market jargon words that were overused and possibly nebulous. But over t...
Wed, Nov 21 2018, 8:56 AM
Do you think non-QM is going to “save your bacon?” After a non-exhaustive survey, it appears that non-QM, aka non-Agency, aka expanded credit, is runn...
Wed, Nov 21 2018, 8:25 AM
Fannie Mae's Economic and Strategic Research Group (ESR) upped their projection for economic growth slightly, to 3.1 percent this year , but say housi...
Wed, Nov 21 2018, 8:07 AM
Mortgage rates pulled back slightly during the week ended November 16, but that did little to move mortgage applications higher. The Mortgage Bankers ...
Tue, Nov 20 2018, 6:24 PM
We've had a pretty good run recently where bond yields have been willing to at least move in the same direction at the same time during sharper stock ...
Tue, Nov 20 2018, 5:21 PM
Mortgage rates managed to maintain their lowest levels in more than a month yet again today. All this despite modest losses in underlying bond markets...
Tue, Nov 20 2018, 10:50 AM
October was another mixed but largely mediocre month for residential construction . Permits were lower both on a monthly and an annual basis, while ho...
Tue, Nov 20 2018, 9:36 AM
Despite a fairly perfect bounce yesterday, the trend-lines acting as floors in stocks and bonds have given way overnight, even if only in somewhat u...
