Tue, Nov 6 2018, 9:02 AM
“I can’t believe my grandpa is voting Democrat this year…he would have never done that when he was alive.” (Or Republican – your choice.) Things aren’...
Tue, Nov 6 2018, 8:52 AM
Justified or not, midterm elections are the market mover du jour. Midterm elections happen today, so it's fair to wonder if they will be a market mov...
Tue, Nov 6 2018, 8:16 AM
Cash-out refinancing is currently a larger share of the refinance market than at any time since the financial crisis . However, the Urban Institute (U...
Mon, Nov 5 2018, 5:19 PM
Today had the look and feel of a summertime Monday--the first we've seen since--well...summertime! Volume was much lighter than it has been in week...
Mon, Nov 5 2018, 4:02 PM
Mortgage rates continued pushing up to new 7-year highs today, even if only by a small margin. This is notable because the underlying bond market (the...
Mon, Nov 5 2018, 9:11 AM
Remember the delinquency and foreclosure issues we had several years ago? It is still part of the biz. Hubzu, an online marketing platform, released d...
Mon, Nov 5 2018, 8:58 AM
Bonds had a rough week last week, more than fully erasing the rally they enjoyed as stocks sold-off in the previous week. Today's first chart shows t...
Mon, Nov 5 2018, 8:24 AM
By mid-October the average interest rate for 30-year fixed rate mortgages (which at that point was at 4.85 percent) represented an increase of 85 basi...
Fri, Nov 2 2018, 7:29 PM
Today, and indeed the week in general was fairly straightforward as far as bond markets were concerned. Today brought a fairly well anticipated jobs ...
Fri, Nov 2 2018, 6:25 PM
Mortgage rates had a bad week and an especially bad day following a much stronger-than-expected jobs report. The Employment Situation (the most import...
Fri, Nov 2 2018, 10:12 AM
Both of the two government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which remain in government receivership ten years after the housin...
Fri, Nov 2 2018, 9:15 AM
Many states “gain an hour” Sunday morning by setting clocks back. Robots don’t care what time it is - will they build your next house? Companies like ...
Fri, Nov 2 2018, 8:26 AM
This morning brings the often-important jobs report. Traditionally, the key component has been nonfarm payrolls (NFP), which is just a tally of new j...
Thu, Nov 1 2018, 4:54 PM
Today ended up being somewhat triumphant for bonds. It didn't begin that way, however. Yields were higher overnight and moved up just a bit more in ...
Thu, Nov 1 2018, 4:12 PM
It's Thursday! That means it's time, once again, to set the record straight on today's actual mortgage rates as opposed to those suggested by almost a...
Thu, Nov 1 2018, 1:24 PM
Construction spending in September was largely unchanged from where it was in August. The U.S. Census Bureau said that private and public sector spend...
Thu, Nov 1 2018, 11:23 AM
Single family home prices increased during the third quarter of 2018 in 93 percent or 166 of the 178 metropolitan areas tracked by the National Associ...
Thu, Nov 1 2018, 9:02 AM
For me October included time in Washington (State and DC), California, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Nevada. Lenders are talking about technology, th...
Thu, Nov 1 2018, 8:37 AM
Bonds have either trying to position themselves in a relatively defensive, pessimistic stance heading into upcoming key events, or their staging on ...
Wed, Oct 31 2018, 4:19 PM
While they are talking apples and oranges, both the U.S. Census Bureau and ATTOM Data Solutions each took a recent look at residential vacancies . The...
Wed, Oct 31 2018, 4:13 PM
Bonds ended the day in weaker territory with 10yr yields rising roughly 3bps and Fannie 4.0 MBS losing nearly a quarter of a point.
Much like yester...
Wed, Oct 31 2018, 3:29 PM
Mortgage rates were higher by a fairly small margin once again today. Interest rates in general (which are determined by the bond market) have been ta...
Wed, Oct 31 2018, 9:18 AM
The title of this commentary is not a Halloween pun . I don't do Halloween puns anymore. No, there is some legitimate cause for concern--even a bit...
Wed, Oct 31 2018, 9:00 AM
“The best part about Halloween is that the cobwebs in my house look like decorations.” For perhaps a morning, the focus for lenders has shifted away f...
Wed, Oct 31 2018, 8:10 AM
After posting the first across-the-board volume increases in almost a month during the week ended October 19, activity reversed last week, and the sea...
Tue, Oct 30 2018, 4:07 PM
Freddie Mac is forecasting that there will be GDP growth of 3.0 percent in the second quarter of this year, moderating from the strong 4.2 percent gro...
Tue, Oct 30 2018, 4:04 PM
If there's a theme in the bond market over the past 2 days, it's that we've broken away from the previously fairly rigid correlation with stocks. Tha...
Tue, Oct 30 2018, 3:05 PM
Mortgage rates were moderately higher today as underlying bond markets continued backing away from their strongest levels in more than 3 weeks (strong...
Tue, Oct 30 2018, 10:53 AM
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index for August showed an annual appreciation rate that was lower than 6.0 percent for the fi...
Tue, Oct 30 2018, 9:07 AM
Plenty of vendors and lenders are focused on raising capital, merging, selling, or closing. It doesn’t take a brilliant detective to see the liquidity...
Tue, Oct 30 2018, 8:45 AM
With bonds being flat to slightly weaker yesterday and now noticeably weaker overnight, we may be looking at our first real resistance bounce (aka "fl...
Mon, Oct 29 2018, 5:00 PM
The bond market has seen one too many "stay thirsty" memes. For example, "I don't always rally for more than a few days in a rising rate environmen...
Mon, Oct 29 2018, 4:22 PM
Mortgage rates didn't move today, despite a fair amount of underlying market volatility. Rates are able to weather the sorts of storms you hear about ...
Mon, Oct 29 2018, 1:29 PM
The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) says its 2018 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers confirms that student debt balances are an increasing con...
Mon, Oct 29 2018, 10:04 AM
Core global bond markets--led by German Bunds and US Treasuries--have been trending lower fairly reliably. For European bonds, that rally has occupie...
Mon, Oct 29 2018, 8:59 AM
We have a whole generation of home buyers who have never seen a 5% mortgage rate, and interesting thought. We’re not in the “An ARM is better” territo...
Fri, Oct 26 2018, 5:42 PM
Interest rates that have generally been rising for a any period of time can catch a break for many reasons. Sometimes it's Italian political drama ...
Fri, Oct 26 2018, 2:08 PM
Mortgage rates fell decisively today--at least in the context of the recent range--thanks primarily to heavy losses in the stock market. Stocks are fa...
Fri, Oct 26 2018, 10:31 AM
Freddie Mac reported this week that its total mortgage portfolio increased at an annualized rate of 2.3 percent in September. The portfolio balance at...
Fri, Oct 26 2018, 10:29 AM
Well, I'm a standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona and such a fine sight to see. What if you want to put down roots there? The town, 3 and a half ho...
Fri, Oct 26 2018, 8:31 AM
Everything continues to be fairly unidimensional for bonds this week with the dimension in question being that of the equities market. In terms of re...
Thu, Oct 25 2018, 5:32 PM
The best way to look at today is as a more sober attempt to hold the lowest yields in more than 3 weeks . The only day that's ended any better for...
Thu, Oct 25 2018, 4:27 PM
Mortgage rates were unchanged yet again , making this the third day in a row at essentially the same levels. Strikingly, underlying market movement wa...
Thu, Oct 25 2018, 3:12 PM
As part of an upgrade to its Desktop Underwriter (DU) that will be issued over the December 8 weekend, Fannie Mae says there will be some adjustments ...
Thu, Oct 25 2018, 10:26 AM
The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) just issued the first positive pending home sales report in months . Pending sales, a leading indicator fo...
Thu, Oct 25 2018, 9:24 AM
The IRS ruled on the tax treatment of business meals? True .) Congressional Bank buying McClean Mortgage? (Rumor.) A loan officer at Umpqua stealing a...
Thu, Oct 25 2018, 9:07 AM
With slightly weaker levels overnight, the rest of the day becomes a fight to maintain the gains seen so far this week. The easiest and most basic ob...
Wed, Oct 24 2018, 4:56 PM
Yesterday was ' neat ' for a while--at least in the morning hours when massive stock losses helped bonds achieve their best levels in weeks. Then sto...
Wed, Oct 24 2018, 4:22 PM
Mortgage rates were roughly unchanged today. That's an appalling reality considering the movement in underlying bond markets. Bonds--specifically, mor...
Wed, Oct 24 2018, 11:06 AM
New home sales managed to pull out a gain last time they were reported. The question was, with an improving inventory but rising interest rates, could...
