Tue, Mar 20 2018, 5:04 PM
Imagine you manage a baseball team. Let's say it's little league , because what follows probably wouldn't happen in the bigs. You're working with y...
Tue, Mar 20 2018, 3:30 PM
Mortgage rates rose to the highest levels in more than a week today, but that's the most dramatic way to put it. In terms of outright movement, today ...
Tue, Mar 20 2018, 11:53 AM
Fannie Mae has lowered its forecast for first quarter 2018 growth from 2.9 to 2.8 percent due to " lackluster consumer spending and nonresidential and...
Tue, Mar 20 2018, 9:50 AM
While there have been a few pockets of decent gains in the past week (Thursday afternoon and yesterday morning), the general trend has been toward wea...
Tue, Mar 20 2018, 9:12 AM
The first day of Spring! Converting empty warehouses, grain elevators, under-utilized shopping malls, or Toys-R-Us stores to new housing? Perhaps. The...
Mon, Mar 19 2018, 4:44 PM
Bonds entered the domestic session feeling a bit down on their luck. There was some general weakness early in the overnight session, but just before ...
Mon, Mar 19 2018, 4:17 PM
Mortgage rates have been on a tear recently , moving sideways with reckless abandon. Since the middle of February, the "effective rate" (based on actu...
Mon, Mar 19 2018, 3:23 PM
Freddie Mac's economists headlined their March Outlook economic report "Adulting is Hard." The newest crop of young adults may find this to be truer t...
Mon, Mar 19 2018, 9:15 AM
If it weren't for the Fed Announcement on Wednesday, this would look like a prime vacation week for market participants as there is a distinct lack ...
Mon, Mar 19 2018, 9:08 AM
For me the last seven days included California, Texas, Nevada, and Illinois. What am I seeing? Some companies are doing well. Others aren’t, and unfor...
Fri, Mar 16 2018, 5:36 PM
There were quite a few economic reports on tap today, and that made for some entertaining market watching! Reason being, every time a report came out...
Fri, Mar 16 2018, 5:12 PM
Mortgage rates rose modestly today, but many lenders were essentially unchanged compared to yesterday's latest offerings. Moreover, rates ended the we...
Fri, Mar 16 2018, 1:07 PM
While home prices continue to rise and homeowner equity to increase, CoreLogic reports that there are still 2.5 million mortgages in negative equity ....
Fri, Mar 16 2018, 11:53 AM
Mortgage lenders continue to expect disappointing profit margins . For the sixth consecutive quarter the net responses to a question about those margi...
Fri, Mar 16 2018, 9:56 AM
The two principal measures of residential construction activity had been expected to decline a bit in February after a strong performance to kick off ...
Fri, Mar 16 2018, 9:45 AM
I was pretty happy to have made it through yesterday without seeing or writing any "Ides of March" headlines. I can't ever quite remember what the wo...
Fri, Mar 16 2018, 9:17 AM
The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act (S. 2155) passed the Senate Wednesday on a bipartisan basis. Sixteen 16 Democrats a...
Fri, Mar 16 2018, 9:13 AM
Lenders charge an interest rate commensurate with the risk, and potential for not being paid back. But disasters and taxes can complicate things. Mort...
Thu, Mar 15 2018, 4:42 PM
Today is most easily discussed based on what it wasn't.
Today wasn't a big selling day. That's nice to see-- especially in 2018, and especi...
Thu, Mar 15 2018, 4:19 PM
Mortgage rates held steady today as political headlines helped to offset some initial weakness in bond markets. When bonds weaken, rates tend to move ...
Thu, Mar 15 2018, 10:32 AM
Home builder confidence ebbed slightly in March, but according to the National Association of Home Builders, it remains in "strong territory." NAHB's ...
Thu, Mar 15 2018, 10:29 AM
Prior to the housing crisis, homeowners who defaulted on their mortgages faced tax consequences if their lender had to write off or write down any par...
Thu, Mar 15 2018, 9:41 AM
You may have noticed that, as of February 22nd, bonds haven't been experiencing the same sort of pain that characterized the first month and a half of...
Thu, Mar 15 2018, 9:16 AM
Rumors continue about companies going out of business, scaling back, or being sold. But let’s talk about progress in pushing forward transitional lice...
Wed, Mar 14 2018, 4:41 PM
We've seen plenty of instances of bond markets shrugging off clear suggestions in the economic data, but today wasn't one of them! Retail Sales and...
Wed, Mar 14 2018, 3:42 PM
Mortgage rates fell again today as several economic updates painted a slightly gloomier picture. In general, weaker economic data coincides with lower...
Wed, Mar 14 2018, 11:34 AM
Millennials are picking up the pace of moving into homeownership, but the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) says not all are finding a way. Its ...
Wed, Mar 14 2018, 9:52 AM
The first month and a half of 2018 was fairly brutal for bond markets. Metaphorically speaking, it was like retreating from their home across a field...
Wed, Mar 14 2018, 9:15 AM
As this week marks the 10 year anniversary of JPM Chase taking over Bear Stearns, the residential lending industry is rife with rumors about companies...
Wed, Mar 14 2018, 8:39 AM
Purchase mortgage applications held their ground for the third consecutive week, pushing the Mortgage Banker Association's Market Composite Index a bi...
Tue, Mar 13 2018, 4:56 PM
Bond markets moved to their best levels in more than a week on a combination of tame inflation data and Trump's unexpected announcement of Rex Till...
Tue, Mar 13 2018, 4:15 PM
Mortgage rates fell today following a tame read on inflation as well as the announcement of Rex Tillerson's departure from the White House. The Consum...
Tue, Mar 13 2018, 11:04 AM
New home sales are projected to have increased again in February. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said that based on its Builder Applications S...
Tue, Mar 13 2018, 9:12 AM
As I head to head to Chicago today to attend the Illinois MBA Conference , I won’t win any Brownie Points mentioning that a United Van Lines National ...
Tue, Mar 13 2018, 8:30 AM
Since at least the middle of 2017, the Consumer Price Index has been in the driver's seat as far as economic data that matters to bonds. This likely ...
Mon, Mar 12 2018, 5:23 PM
Bond markets were slightly weaker to start the session, but soon found some support from a European bond market rally. Even after the European close...
Mon, Mar 12 2018, 4:44 PM
Mortgage rates spent the entirety of last week at the same levels based on end-of-day rates sheets from the average lender. That was a tremendously un...
Mon, Mar 12 2018, 10:29 AM
The Senate looks set to pass Senate Bill 2155, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, which seeks to undo some of the pr...
Mon, Mar 12 2018, 9:34 AM
Thanks to February's lower day count throwing off the normal cadence of Treasury auctions, bond markets will have to take down 3 auctions in the first...
Mon, Mar 12 2018, 9:11 AM
Rates have gone up, refi volumes are dropping, and LOs are having plenty of discussions with potential borrowers about “rent vs. buy.” SmartAsset has ...
Fri, Mar 9 2018, 3:53 PM
Mortgage rates must really like being where they are right now, because they've been at roughly the same levels for the past 5 days! Not only is this ...
Fri, Mar 9 2018, 9:50 AM
CoreLogic has been watching for signs of overvalued markets for some time. The company and its lead analysts Frank Nothaft, Molly Boesel, and Sam Khat...
Fri, Mar 9 2018, 9:15 AM
Let’s end the week with a non-mortgage related note about nature. You Tube has a live webcam a live webcam in the San Francisco Presidio of a Red-Tail...
Fri, Mar 9 2018, 8:29 AM
Beliefs, expectations, and assertions can be tricky business if they're not backed up by hard data. No other economic report brings as many armchair ...
Thu, Mar 8 2018, 6:35 PM
The ECB released a policy announcement this morning. They weren't expected to make any significant changes and indeed they made none. Well, to be ...
Thu, Mar 8 2018, 5:46 PM
Mortgage rates were generally unchanged for the 3rd day in a row today despite a fair amount of movement in underlying bond markets. Rates reacted to ...
Thu, Mar 8 2018, 11:29 AM
Lending standards tightened in February, especially for conforming and super-conforming (jumbo) loans. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said its...
Thu, Mar 8 2018, 9:11 AM
In these days of fleeting texts, emails, and photos that last for one look, it is nice to think that some things last. News broke that a record-breaki...
Thu, Mar 8 2018, 9:11 AM
European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi's press conference (which follows the scheduled ECB policy announcement) could set the tone for bon...
Wed, Mar 7 2018, 4:41 PM
The resignation of White House Economic Advisor Gary Cohn thew markets a curveball when it was announced after the close of business yesterday. Cur...
