Wed, May 15 2019, 8:05 AM
One week after posting the first positive results in five weeks, mortgage application activity fell off again. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) ...
Tue, May 14 2019, 4:41 PM
From a volume standpoint, today was only a bit more than half as big as the highest recent days. And you'd have to go back to April to find anyth...
Tue, May 14 2019, 4:22 PM
It's been a while since the bond market (which dictates rates) has been able to digest what we would consider to be a "top tier" economic report. Why ...
Tue, May 14 2019, 11:38 AM
According to Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), a typical homeowner in the U.S. saw his or her housing wea...
Tue, May 14 2019, 10:48 AM
What’s in a name? Lots. Try asking someone what “gluten” is. ( Here’s a comical look at that.) Try asking someone in our business what the difference ...
Tue, May 14 2019, 10:42 AM
With mortgage delinquencies continuing to be at historic lows, CoreLogic points to natural disasters as a significant cause of the slight deterioratio...
Tue, May 14 2019, 8:32 AM
In the day just past, bonds and especially stocks remained transfixed by trade-related headlines. This follows an entire week marked by the same preo...
Mon, May 13 2019, 5:27 PM
Declining property values, while modest and localized, may be taking a toll on homeowner safety margins. ATTOM Data Solutions has released its first q...
Mon, May 13 2019, 5:25 PM
Trade war trading struck back today, just when you thought you'd seen the last of it on Friday. In this installment, news stories about various respo...
Mon, May 13 2019, 4:37 PM
Mortgage rates moved moderately lower to start the new week as trade tensions remained in focus. In general, the worse the US/China trade relationship...
Mon, May 13 2019, 9:56 AM
In the week just past, markets were slavishly tuned-in to headlines and developments surrounding US/China trade relations . This generally resulted ...
Mon, May 13 2019, 9:08 AM
I want an Ethereum-powered home loan! It doesn’t matter that I don’t know what Ethereum is; apparently they’re on their way to NY and CA . “Tokenizing...
Fri, May 10 2019, 5:46 PM
Trade-related headlines continued to be all the market cared about for one final day this week. They went both ways, but by the end, it was clear we'...
Fri, May 10 2019, 5:12 PM
Mortgage rates moved up on Friday, ultimately making it to the highest levels of the week for the average lender. Underlying bond markets came under p...
Fri, May 10 2019, 8:50 AM
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced a a package of incentives to encourage multi-family property owners to invest in thousands of neigh...
Fri, May 10 2019, 8:31 AM
In the day just past, markets continued to gyrate on trade war headlines more than anything. The overnight session saw some bond buying on tough talk...
Thu, May 9 2019, 4:44 PM
It's been an interesting week so far with trade war developments taking bonds in an unexpected direction unexpectedly quickly and MBS underperforming ...
Thu, May 9 2019, 4:07 PM
Mortgage rates were just slightly lower on average today with some lenders flat and others distinctly lower. The discrepancy is due to the timing of y...
Thu, May 9 2019, 12:09 PM
Condominium loans represent only about 8 percent of total mortgages, a share that has remain fairly stable for several years. However, CoreLogic says ...
Thu, May 9 2019, 10:35 AM
A big jump in jumbo loan lending drove an increase in mortgage credit availability in April. The Mortgage Bankers Association's Mortgage Credit Availa...
Thu, May 9 2019, 9:13 AM
In the day just past, bond markets put in their first losing session after 3 straight business days moving in a friendlier direction. Chalk that up t...
Thu, May 9 2019, 9:01 AM
Attributes like trust, humility, honesty, and transparency aren’t traits assigned to websites focused on originating loans. Human capital is valuable,...
Thu, May 9 2019, 8:11 AM
Just days after Ginnie Mae issued a Request for Input seeking advice on ways to tighten its regulations in regard to VA loans, it appears the governme...
Wed, May 8 2019, 5:24 PM
First thing in the morning, it looked like we had a chance to see another trade-war-driven bond rally. A Reuters story that detailed the US/China com...
Wed, May 8 2019, 4:42 PM
Mortgage rates began the day in decent shape after more trade war drama courtesy of a Reuters story overnight. In general, trade war drama pushes stoc...
Wed, May 8 2019, 11:30 AM
Freddie Mac periodically looks at how and from where homebuyers are managing to acquire their down payments and they did so , particularly first-timer...
Wed, May 8 2019, 9:07 AM
In the day just passed, bonds continued to rally as more details about recent trade war drama unfolded. Actually, those details unfolded late Monday ...
Wed, May 8 2019, 9:00 AM
VA mortgage lenders hit with federal subpoenas ? Apparently. Secondary markets (the demand for loans and what investors are willing to pay for them) d...
Wed, May 8 2019, 8:16 AM
Even though mortgages rates have declined over the last several months, consumers remain bearish about buying a home. Fannie Mae said net positive res...
Wed, May 8 2019, 8:11 AM
Freddie Mac is undertaking a new initiative designed to align the servicing process to a more customer service focus, especially for distressed homeow...
Wed, May 8 2019, 8:06 AM
After four straight weeks of declines, mortgage application activity finally gained ground during the week ended May 3. The Mortgage Bankers Associati...
Tue, May 7 2019, 6:15 PM
For the second straight day, US/China trade relation uncertainty dominated financial markets. Volume was up across the board with Treasury yields and...
Tue, May 7 2019, 5:53 PM
Mortgage rates didn't move much today, if at all. This is confounding to all those who have watched rates against the backdrop of 10yr Treasury yields...
Tue, May 7 2019, 10:52 AM
Home price growth continued to slow on an annual basis in March. The CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI) shows home prices increased from the previous Ma...
Tue, May 7 2019, 8:53 AM
In the day just past, a weekend Trump tweet announcing increased tariffs on China sent bond yields and stock prices much lower. Both bounced back thr...
Tue, May 7 2019, 8:36 AM
If you want to have more of your financial future tied to lending, PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust (PMT) announced the pricing of an underwritten p...
Mon, May 6 2019, 5:13 PM
Today represented a classic example of the old market adage "buy the rumor, sell the news." It also offered two different takes on that strategy fr...
Mon, May 6 2019, 4:17 PM
Mortgage rates dropped noticeably this morning as financial markets opened sharply changed from Friday's latest levels thanks to Trump trade tweets ov...
Mon, May 6 2019, 9:09 AM
Welcome to May 6th, the anniversary of the first tequila hangover. (Yes, for those of you who wrote, I know that May 5 is not Mexican Independence Day...
Mon, May 6 2019, 8:59 AM
The week begins with bonds trading in much stronger territory thanks to a surprise US/China trade announcement from Trump over the weekend. This cha...
Mon, May 6 2019, 8:44 AM
Prepayment rates historically tend to increase in the spring, but this year they have been exceptionally high. The rate has risen during March in 18 o...
Fri, May 3 2019, 5:28 PM
Bond traders can book profits on bond purchases by selling, or on bond sales by buying. Today was characterized by the latter.
Logically, traders...
Fri, May 3 2019, 5:02 PM
Mortgage rates were flat today, which is a victory considering the big jobs report was stronger than expected. Typically, labor market strength--espec...
Fri, May 3 2019, 1:10 PM
Ginnie Mae has issued a formal request for input regarding changes to its II Multi-Issuer Program (GII MIP). That program represents almost a third of...
Fri, May 3 2019, 9:08 AM
On the trading desk we would always chuckle when someone would occasionally cry out, “Oh! I was working so hard I forgot to eat!” Really? One thing is...
Fri, May 3 2019, 8:22 AM
In the day just past, bonds sold off due to what appears to be market dissatisfaction with a hawkish message from the Fed. This largely came courtesy...
Thu, May 2 2019, 5:38 PM
Treasuries weakened today as traders continued to price out a friendly Fed. This wasn't necessarily destined to be the case after yesterday's Fed Ann...
Thu, May 2 2019, 5:21 PM
The government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac released their first quarter financial results on Wednesday. Both had slightly ...
Thu, May 2 2019, 5:04 PM
Mortgage rates didn't move much today, but the average lender is quoting microscopically higher rates, if anything. Week-over-week, it wouldn't be unf...
Thu, May 2 2019, 10:31 AM
2.50% has been more than just a reasonably round number marking the midpoint between 2.0% and 3.0% as far as 10yr Treasury yields are concerned. Actu...
