Wed, Jul 18 2018, 10:26 AM
All three measures of residential construction activity performed poorly in June , and the two most closely watched numbers, construction permits and ...
Wed, Jul 18 2018, 9:46 AM
Fed Chair Powell will deliver round 2 of his congressional testimony today, this time at the House FSOC (yesterday was with the Senate Banking Committ...
Wed, Jul 18 2018, 8:53 AM
“Your loan officer should be given the opportunity to succeed elsewhere.” Ever heard a CEO recommend that to a branch manager regarding a poorly perfo...
Wed, Jul 18 2018, 8:08 AM
Refinancing made a tiny bit of a comeback during the week ended July 13. Both the Refinancing Index, a component of the Mortgage Bankers Associations ...
Tue, Jul 17 2018, 5:18 PM
Fed Chair Powell fielded questions from the Senate Banking Committee today as a part of the 2-day semi-annual congressional testimony often referred...
Tue, Jul 17 2018, 4:36 PM
Mortgage rates were generally unchanged today, prolonging an exceptionally flat trend. Over the past 3 weeks, the average mortgage seeker will not hav...
Tue, Jul 17 2018, 10:47 AM
As analysts had expected, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) remained at 68 this month. The readi...
Tue, Jul 17 2018, 10:02 AM
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has plucked more information from the Census Bureau's Survey of Construction (SOC), this time to pain...
Tue, Jul 17 2018, 9:47 AM
Fed Chair Powell begins 2 days of semi annual congressional testimony today with the Senate Banking Committee at 10am. In recent years, this testimon...
Tue, Jul 17 2018, 8:52 AM
“What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.” While you ruminate on that one, there continues to be evidence and rem...
Mon, Jul 16 2018, 5:52 PM
Summertime Mondays are notorious for light volume and seemingly random trading. Today was a slightly more active than normal in that regard, largely ...
Mon, Jul 16 2018, 4:11 PM
Mortgage rates fell to their lowest levels since late May as of last Friday. Today, then, would be the 2nd best day since late May. Rates edged slight...
Mon, Jul 16 2018, 9:05 AM
This is the off-season for bonds, but they still have to show up for the game every day. The coaching staff (aka the traders turning the cogs of the ...
Mon, Jul 16 2018, 8:50 AM
When Costco rolled out its mortgage option to members, many lenders were very concerned. But despite great potential, Costco/First Choice has not beco...
Mon, Jul 16 2018, 8:14 AM
Despite complaints about labor, lot, and material shortages, builders needed no more time to build a home last year than they did in 2016. The time di...
Fri, Jul 13 2018, 4:23 PM
Before any discussion about market movement in July, we have to set the stage with some disclaimer about "slow summertime trading." That was the su...
Fri, Jul 13 2018, 2:55 PM
Mortgage rates fell by an observable amount today-- one of the few times they've done so in recent weeks. Technically, today's average lender is offer...
Fri, Jul 13 2018, 10:20 AM
I know I made a Looney Tunes reference last week, but another one is in order. For those that aren't familiar, Yosemite Sam is stranded on a desert i...
Fri, Jul 13 2018, 8:58 AM
Events and Training Don't miss out on the Lenders One 2018 Summer Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, August 5-8, at The Grand America. In an age of d...
Thu, Jul 12 2018, 5:18 PM
Mortgage rates stood a very decent chance to experience the highest volatility of the week today thanks to the most important economic data of the wee...
Thu, Jul 12 2018, 4:59 PM
Welcome to summertime in the bond market, where each day is narrower than the last! The same can be said for the past 2 weeks and the past several mo...
Thu, Jul 12 2018, 3:06 PM
While the Labor Department's Employment Situation Report for June showed wages plodding along at a 2.7 percent annual increase, unchanged from May, it...
Thu, Jul 12 2018, 2:57 PM
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is projecting a decline in new home sales for June, putting them significantly behind those in June 2017. MBA's...
Thu, Jul 12 2018, 2:43 PM
In a fairly rare turn of events, Fed Chair Powell gave a rather lengthy radio interview with Marketplace's Kai Ryssdal. Here's a rather lengthy trans...
Thu, Jul 12 2018, 9:51 AM
This morning's key data release is already out and it's already proven to be a dud (MBS Live members can read the update HERE). So we'll head to hi...
Thu, Jul 12 2018, 8:51 AM
Chris Whalen notes, “The failure of Bear Stearns & Co a decade ago illustrates the key lesson of financial markets, namely that non-banks are dependen...
Wed, Jul 11 2018, 5:59 PM
Today was the most active trading day of the week--something that looked destined to be the case considering markets began gyrating right at the sta...
Wed, Jul 11 2018, 4:54 PM
Mortgage rates played the same role they've been playing for weeks by holding fairly steady today. At the average lender, if you're looking for an ave...
Wed, Jul 11 2018, 11:05 AM
This month's Mortgage Monitor Report from Black Knight, Inc. is again about equity, but this time with a twist regarding the way homeowners are treati...
Wed, Jul 11 2018, 9:50 AM
The first two days of the week were largely spent lamenting the slow and inconsequential nature of summertime trading in the bonds market. At least t...
Wed, Jul 11 2018, 8:54 AM
U.S. capital markets folks have a way with words. Henry Jonas writes, “I started in this business in a Secondary Marketing in ‘86. Outside of maybe 19...
Wed, Jul 11 2018, 8:02 AM
Despite the Independence Day holiday which both shortened and bisected the week, mortgage activity rallied significantly during the week ended July 6....
Tue, Jul 10 2018, 4:37 PM
If we look solely at the US trading hours, yesterday and today form a nearly perfect 2-day trend just slightly higher in rate. Fannie 4.0 MBS prices ...
Tue, Jul 10 2018, 3:45 PM
Mortgage rates didn't move for most lenders today. Remaining lenders were just slightly higher than yesterday, thus keeping this week's modest upward ...
Tue, Jul 10 2018, 1:55 PM
The Mortgage Bankers Association attributed an increase in its Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI) last month to increased competition among len...
Tue, Jul 10 2018, 9:14 AM
Yesterday saw the lightest Treasury volume of any full trading day so far this year. That's no great surprise in July, as this tends to be the month ...
Tue, Jul 10 2018, 8:37 AM
Pesky technology… it just won’t go away. Online lending platform fintech player (including mortgages) SoFi has launched a banking app (SoFi Money) in ...
Tue, Jul 10 2018, 8:26 AM
The foreclosure inventory, that is the percentage of loans in the process of foreclosure, appears to have stabilized at 0.6 percent of all outstanding...
Mon, Jul 9 2018, 5:32 PM
Bonds were moderately weaker today with Treasuries outpacing MBS in that regard. 10yr yields had fallen just over 3bps before the start of domestic...
Mon, Jul 9 2018, 4:47 PM
Mortgage rates were modestly higher today amid exceptionally quiet market conditions. In general, the bond market (which underlies mortgage rates) has...
Mon, Jul 9 2018, 11:26 AM
Fannie Mae recently made some fairly big changes to the condo underwriting process. While it may not affect everyone in the market for a condo, it wil...
Mon, Jul 9 2018, 11:17 AM
Americans may still feel it is a good time so sell a home and a so-so one for home purchases, but, in June at least, they were feeling a little edgy a...
Mon, Jul 9 2018, 9:19 AM
Last week was was a bit lacking in terms of trading days due to the holiday market closure, but it made up for that with bigger-ticket data and events...
Mon, Jul 9 2018, 8:52 AM
As a loan officer, how would you like the borrower’s first contact to be with your CEO or head of mortgage? A Wells borrower is greeted by Michael DeV...
Fri, Jul 6 2018, 7:35 PM
Bonds and mostly stocks were braced for something fairly austere heading into this morning's hard launch of new tariffs. This accounted for a clearl...
Fri, Jul 6 2018, 6:12 PM
Mortgage rates finally fell today--something that's proven elusive since roughly June 15th. Incidentally, that's when financial markets began bracing ...
Fri, Jul 6 2018, 12:54 PM
Recently the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) released a study, based on census data, showing an increasing percentage of young adults, ab...
Fri, Jul 6 2018, 8:58 AM
Everyone needs some learnin’, and LOs and underwriters are very interested in income, education, and trends. The US Census Bureau tells us that since ...
Fri, Jul 6 2018, 8:12 AM
As investors have sought a safe haven from trade-related risks, bonds have benefited more than they otherwise might have and stocks have been restrain...
Thu, Jul 5 2018, 5:22 PM
Fannie Mae's Lender Sentiment Survey has foreshadowed the growing attention to automating the loan approval process. That survey underlined the extent...
