Mon, Aug 27 2018, 5:41 PM
It was a straightforward trading day today. Overnight weakness came courtesy of stronger econ data in Germany and the resulting sell-off in Europea...
Mon, Aug 27 2018, 3:58 PM
Mortgage rates moved higher for some lenders and lower for others, depending on how that particular lender adjusted their rate sheets on Friday aftern...
Mon, Aug 27 2018, 9:20 AM
Even though quite a few kids are going back to school today, there's still one week of Summer remaining for the bond market. Labor Day (this upcoming...
Mon, Aug 27 2018, 8:49 AM
Scholars have long pondered if Myrtle Beach, South Carolina was named after my cat Myrtle, or vice versa – the answer is lost in the shrouds of time. ...
Fri, Aug 24 2018, 8:25 PM
If you knew what to look for, today's comments from Fed Chair Powell erred on the side of dovishness--that is, they were rate-friendly. They were als...
Fri, Aug 24 2018, 7:17 PM
Mortgage rates began the day slightly higher . In fact, for several lenders, it was the biggest day-over-day move higher in more than 2 weeks. The key...
Fri, Aug 24 2018, 9:30 AM
Dear Kansas City Fed,
Thank you for hosting another year of the storied Jackson Hole Symposium. I'm not here to vent about the fact that you cou...
Fri, Aug 24 2018, 9:21 AM
The rain is still pouring down in Oahu, but Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are ahead of the game. Both GSEs have already announced that their disaster rel...
Fri, Aug 24 2018, 9:07 AM
There are definitional differences between PUDs, condos, apartments, and townhomes, including who owns the land. (Based on historical performance of d...
Thu, Aug 23 2018, 5:30 PM
Not since the eerie holiday-inspired silence of December 22nd 2017 have bonds put in as narrow of a trading day as they did today. 10yr yields didn't...
Thu, Aug 23 2018, 5:13 PM
The first serious mortgage related impact from last fall's hurricanes started to hit home in July . Foreclosure starts rose 11 percent from June, with...
Thu, Aug 23 2018, 4:55 PM
Mortgage rates have been more or less unchanged since August 10th . That's an impressively boring streak even by summertime standards. Why does summer...
Thu, Aug 23 2018, 10:55 AM
New home sales broke out of the up-one-month, down the next pattern they have adopted since March, and not in a good way . The Census Bureau and Depar...
Thu, Aug 23 2018, 10:49 AM
Home prices for purchases financed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac appreciated at an 0.2 percent rate during June, and the estimate for May was increase...
Thu, Aug 23 2018, 9:09 AM
Is today the day we break the "key technical level" at 2.82? Spoiler alert: you shouldn't care and it doesn't matter . I'm sorry if this is disillus...
Thu, Aug 23 2018, 9:07 AM
“Rob, I think we’re going to make it.” Thus began a note I received yesterday from the owner of a small retail lender in the mid-Atlantic region. “We’...
Wed, Aug 22 2018, 4:07 PM
Today's gains are primarily a factor of the bond market's response to yesterday's Cohen headlines (plea deal regarding campaign finance violations)....
Wed, Aug 22 2018, 3:45 PM
Mortgage rates haven't really moved for 9 straight business days. Some lenders have seen microscopic improvements during that time, but the average le...
Wed, Aug 22 2018, 11:41 AM
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has pulled the plug on pilot programs run by both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs) to finance instituti...
Wed, Aug 22 2018, 10:53 AM
Existing home sales posted their fourth straight loss in July and have dropped to their slowest pace since February 2016. The National Association of ...
Wed, Aug 22 2018, 9:25 AM
News regarding Cohen's plea deal came out right as futures markets were closing yesterday. There were only 15-20 minutes for a reaction, and we wou...
Wed, Aug 22 2018, 9:08 AM
Now that we’re more than halfway through the third quarter, how’s it shaping up for lenders? Yes, the industry has reduced its ranks, therefore cuttin...
Wed, Aug 22 2018, 8:07 AM
Last week's mortgage application activity was the best since early July as interest rates for most products drifted lower for the second week. The Mor...
Tue, Aug 21 2018, 4:47 PM
The S&P 500 hit a record intraday high today (just over 2873.22 compared to the previous high of 2872.87). In other words, it wasn't a triumphant s...
Tue, Aug 21 2018, 4:08 PM
Mortgage rates were generally unchanged again today although several lenders were in just slightly better territory. That makes this the 8th straight ...
Tue, Aug 21 2018, 11:42 AM
The Treasury Department has recommended some sweeping changes for consumer financial services including some directly impacting the mortgage industry ...
Tue, Aug 21 2018, 8:56 AM
With yields touching the lowest levels in more than a month yesterday, there are two distinct cases to be made for the path ahead. In the more pessi...
Tue, Aug 21 2018, 8:45 AM
What can keep interest rates low in the United States? A slow economy. What can cause higher rates? Inflation. To no one’s surprise, U.S. tariffs have...
Mon, Aug 20 2018, 5:31 PM
When it comes to financial markets, the definition for "jawboning" is a bit looser than normal as it also encompasses market movement that occurs simp...
Mon, Aug 20 2018, 4:59 PM
Mortgage rates were almost perfectly unchanged again today, meaning they haven't really changed in more than a week. All this despite a rather noticea...
Mon, Aug 20 2018, 3:29 PM
Irving Berlin once wrote, "The song might be over, but the melody lingers on." That, according to a paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francis...
Mon, Aug 20 2018, 9:12 AM
The frustrating thing about weeks that are normally vacation-heavy is that the resulting lack of volume and liquidity can leave bonds in a position to...
Mon, Aug 20 2018, 8:55 AM
In my travels around the States, I see that some lenders are nervous. Yes, margins appear to have, for the most part, stopped compressing dramatically...
Fri, Aug 17 2018, 5:30 PM
10yr yields ended the week at almost exactly where they began. With the exception of Tuesday, bonds closed within 1.5bps of each other on the other 4...
Fri, Aug 17 2018, 4:29 PM
Mortgage rates were almost perfectly unchanged today. That leaves them right in line with last Friday's levels. I devoted a considerable number of wor...
Fri, Aug 17 2018, 11:41 AM
Fannie Mae's monthly Economic Development papers always have the best headlines, pithy and to the point. The August one reads. "Growth Picks Up as Exp...
Fri, Aug 17 2018, 10:22 AM
It may end up being a slow, summertime Friday with the news cycle calming down relative to earlier in the week, not to mention the fact that its peak ...
Fri, Aug 17 2018, 9:03 AM
Loan performance continued to improve in the second quarter. The overall delinquency rate on one-to-four-unit residential properties fell to a seasona...
Fri, Aug 17 2018, 8:55 AM
Capital markets folks know that there are billions of dollars of outstanding 5, 6, 7, and even 8% securities filled with high interest-rate loans. LOs...
Thu, Aug 16 2018, 5:13 PM
Treasuries were weaker at the start of the overnight session as renewed US/China trade negotiations propelled global equities markets higher. The h...
Thu, Aug 16 2018, 3:31 PM
Be careful what you read--or perhaps, who you trust--about mortgage rates today. There's a lot of misinformation out there. Don't be mad. No one is ou...
Thu, Aug 16 2018, 12:33 PM
Purchase loans held on to the June share of 71 percent of closed loans in July which remains the highest share in the seven-year history of Ellie Mae'...
Thu, Aug 16 2018, 10:34 AM
I found myself driving in the truck for more than an hour yesterday evening--long enough to hear the news cycle repeated several times. During that t...
Thu, Aug 16 2018, 10:15 AM
As analysts had predicted, both housing permits and starts recovered , albeit only slightly, in July after a poor showing the previous month. The U.S....
Thu, Aug 16 2018, 8:56 AM
Trillions of dollars of securities are tied to LIBOR, but the London Interbank Offered Rate is scheduled to be phased out at the end of 2021. Companie...
Thu, Aug 16 2018, 8:05 AM
It shouldn't be news to anyone that the homeownership rate of the Millennial generation continues to be anemic. While it has improved slightly since 2...
Wed, Aug 15 2018, 4:01 PM
Headlines continue overstating the connection between US market movements and the financial drama in Turkey. Today was especially damaging to the cas...
Wed, Aug 15 2018, 1:29 PM
Mortgage rates fell only modestly today despite a much stronger move in broader bond markets. I spend a lot of time espousing the fact that rates are ...
Wed, Aug 15 2018, 10:42 AM
Rising concerns about costs and labor shortages continue to take a toll on home builder sentiment according to the August Housing Market Index (HMI). ...
Wed, Aug 15 2018, 9:45 AM
From New York, traders have been looking east for at least some level of inspiration from Turkish market volatility. As we've discussed exhaustively,...
