Thu, May 2 2019, 9:28 AM
I was on a flight yesterday to Orlando for the MBAG annual conference on the coast. The plane was packed, half with 4-13-year-old passengers bound for...
Wed, May 1 2019, 5:02 PM
The overnight session was very quiet for bonds with most major markets closed for various holidays. The first meaningful movement followed the ISM Ma...
Wed, May 1 2019, 4:37 PM
Mortgage rates finally moved in a direction that wasn't "up" today. That said, it's debatable whether the direction would be best described as "lower"...
Wed, May 1 2019, 2:02 PM
Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in January March indicates that the labor market remains strong but and that g...
Wed, May 1 2019, 12:20 PM
Publicly and privately funded construction put in place in March had an estimated value of $1.282 trillion on a seasonally adjusted annual basis. This...
Wed, May 1 2019, 9:21 AM
Why don't you ever see the headline, “Psychic Wins Lottery?” Some people believe that economists have the ability to predict rates, bookmakers have th...
Wed, May 1 2019, 9:04 AM
Although the 10am ISM Manufacturing Report can definitely have an impact on bonds today, The 2pm FED Announcement at 2:30pm press conference is th...
Wed, May 1 2019, 8:14 AM
Despite a decline in interest rates, mortgage volume took a significant hit during the week ended April 26. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) rep...
Tue, Apr 30 2019, 5:49 PM
Open up MBS Live today and you'll be greeted with plenty of reassuring green numbers and positive reprice notifications. Unfortunately, those repri...
Tue, Apr 30 2019, 5:17 PM
Mortgage rates moved up again today, despite modest improvement in the bond market (which typically coincides with lower rates). Part of the reason fo...
Tue, Apr 30 2019, 4:55 PM
Freddie Mac's April economic forecast focuses on interest rates and their impact on housing as the company's Economic & Housing Research Group revises...
Tue, Apr 30 2019, 11:03 AM
The yield curve--technically a reference to the full spectrum of Treasury yields versus duration/maturities (i.e. 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 30 years), but often...
Tue, Apr 30 2019, 10:44 AM
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices for February continue to show a slowdown in home price gains on a year-over-year basis although all of the mont...
Tue, Apr 30 2019, 10:10 AM
Pending home sales posted a second solid performance in 2019 , with home purchase contract signings in March recovering from their slight dip in Febru...
Tue, Apr 30 2019, 9:02 AM
Well, we’ve sailed through another perfectly good month. Wasn’t it just New Years? There are plenty of interesting things going on in residential lend...
Tue, Apr 30 2019, 8:13 AM
CoreLogic says that, while the incidence of mortgage fraud has remained relatively stable in recent quarters, income fraud remains a growing problem. ...
Mon, Apr 29 2019, 5:58 PM
Friday was pretty great for bond markets. It was a solid day of gains at the end of a week where we'd already had two other solid days of gains. A...
Mon, Apr 29 2019, 5:29 PM
Mortgage rates moved up today, but at a fairly tame pace in the bigger picture. The rest of the week, however, may not be as tame. There are multiple ...
Mon, Apr 29 2019, 10:28 AM
Freddie Mac reported this week that its total mortgage portfolio increased at an annualized rate of 8.0 percent in March, growing from 3.0 percent the...
Mon, Apr 29 2019, 9:55 AM
This is a very big weak in terms of economic data and its relationship with bond market trading levels. In a nutshell, yields dropped sharply into a ...
Mon, Apr 29 2019, 9:08 AM
When I was a kid in California, as with my parents and their parents, and their parents, flowers and fruits had seasons. Roses bloomed in the spring. ...
Fri, Apr 26 2019, 7:09 PM
Mortgage rates improved again today, keeping the week-over-week move decidedly friendly. For more on the weekly move, see the in-depth discussion in y...
Fri, Apr 26 2019, 11:44 AM
GDP was hotly anticipated this week and rightfully so. The trading reaction has been the week's most volatile and has carried the most volume. Parad...
Fri, Apr 26 2019, 10:06 AM
Both homeownership and vacancy rates were essentially unchanged in the first quarter of this year according to data released on Thursday by the U.S. C...
Fri, Apr 26 2019, 9:26 AM
M&A is rampant, big and small, and is expected to continue throughout 2019. There’s a constant stream of individual branch or small company moves, but...
Thu, Apr 25 2019, 5:05 PM
The bond market took a pass today as traders generally let supply considerations and positioning rule the day. Supply considerations came courtesy of...
Thu, Apr 25 2019, 4:38 PM
Mortgage rates held fairly steady today with the average lender unchanged to just slightly higher on the day. That's fairly good news considering yest...
Thu, Apr 25 2019, 2:13 PM
Home flipping, buying a property with the intent to sell it in a short period of time at a profit, is more popular than almost ever , but a study by C...
Thu, Apr 25 2019, 10:35 AM
Here's a quick recap of the past year or so. Bond yields were near long-term highs in the first part of 2018 following the passage of the tax bill ...
Thu, Apr 25 2019, 9:22 AM
In low down payment and HFA news, HUD, dba the FHA, has agreed to a 90-day stay in implementation of Mortgagee Letter 19-06 (regarding down payment as...
Thu, Apr 25 2019, 8:14 AM
The declining interest rates earlier in the year along with increased refinancing made themselves felt in March as prepayment activity surged. Black K...
Wed, Apr 24 2019, 5:15 PM
Here come those "global growth concerns" again! It's nothing too huge or scandalous, but today's scorecard offered several anecdotes that fueled a do...
Wed, Apr 24 2019, 4:39 PM
Mortgage rates moved lower at their best pace in several weeks today, with the average lender making it back to levels not seen since April 12th. The ...
Wed, Apr 24 2019, 10:45 AM
Conventional wisdom, according to the Urban Institute (UI), holds that small mortgages are riskier than large ones. That may be one reason that only o...
Wed, Apr 24 2019, 9:19 AM
We can go years at a time without so much as a mention of Australia--at least not as it relates to the global economy. But now for the 2nd time in as...
Wed, Apr 24 2019, 9:08 AM
How often do you buy candles at retailer Pier 1? Me neither. Due to poor earnings Pier 1 Imports announced it will close another 45 stores (up to 150 ...
Wed, Apr 24 2019, 8:11 AM
Rising interest rates continued to take a toll on mortgage applications during the week ended April 19. Even purchase mortgage volume fell victim to t...
Tue, Apr 23 2019, 4:13 PM
With each passing day this week, we're reminded that the most important events are yet to come. In fact, we may well be looking at only one significa...
Tue, Apr 23 2019, 3:42 PM
When bonds make "gains," it means that bond prices are moving up. The price of a bond is like the amount that a lender is willing to pay for the right...
Tue, Apr 23 2019, 11:37 AM
New home sales continued on a winning streak in March , increasing for the third straight month. The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing ...
Tue, Apr 23 2019, 11:02 AM
The pace of home price appreciation slowed notably in February , at least as reflected in the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA's) House Price In...
Tue, Apr 23 2019, 9:41 AM
Oil is one of the most fundamental economic inputs when it comes to determining costs and thus inflation. Inflation is one of the most fundamental in...
Tue, Apr 23 2019, 8:57 AM
Should small, non-depository mortgage bankers be concerned about big banks renewing their interest in FHA loans? Probably. Bank of America is promotin...
Tue, Apr 23 2019, 8:23 AM
As profit margins have continued to shrink, mortgage lenders have been seeking to utilize technology to reduce their production expenses which involve...
Mon, Apr 22 2019, 5:43 PM
There's age old market wisdom that loosely suggests any given move should be taken more seriously if there's a lot of volume behind it. Deductively, ...
Mon, Apr 22 2019, 4:54 PM
Mortgage rates were higher again on Monday, but just barely. The average lender was still in worse shape on Tuesday or Wednesday of last week when rat...
Mon, Apr 22 2019, 11:53 AM
The question this morning was whether March's existing home sales could build on the strong numbers posted in February, an 11.8 percent increase from ...
Mon, Apr 22 2019, 9:48 AM
Are we or are we not headed toward a global economic contraction in mid-to-late 2019? Or are such things on hold for another year or two? Inquiring ...
Mon, Apr 22 2019, 9:19 AM
Remember NINA loans from 10-15 years ago where the lender would purposely discard anything in the file dealing with income because underwriters didn’t...
Mon, Apr 22 2019, 8:22 AM
For the second month in a row we find ourselves stating that Fannie Mae's forecast , while still predicting a slowdown in economic growth this year, a...
