Tue, Sep 25 2018, 9:11 AM
We talk sometimes about bonds taking a "lead-off" (like in that sport that a few of us still remember). Well, at least I talk about bonds taking a le...
Tue, Sep 25 2018, 9:04 AM
The U.S. economy and job market are firing on nearly all cylinders (hence higher rates) but the housing market has essentially stalled. Here’s a stat ...
Mon, Sep 24 2018, 4:36 PM
Have you heard? The Fed announcement is coming up on Wednesday. While you've undoubtedly heard about that more than a few times (unless this is yo...
Mon, Sep 24 2018, 3:38 PM
Mortgage rates are having a bleak September, having risen at least an eighth of a percentage point in all cases and by a quarter of a point in many ca...
Mon, Sep 24 2018, 12:18 PM
Freddie Mac's Economic and Housing Research Group said on Monday that the U.S. economy and job market are firing on nearly all cylinders , "but the ho...
Mon, Sep 24 2018, 9:11 AM
It would be a tad dramatic to say that rates are at a crossroads as we head into the end of September, unless there's any additional weakness this wee...
Mon, Sep 24 2018, 9:03 AM
We’re now officially in autumn, one week left in the 3rd quarter. Most states in the U.S. don’t change their clocks until November 4th, but in Europe ...
Mon, Sep 24 2018, 8:24 AM
Are weather patterns beginning to provoke annual swings in mortgage delinquencies? Black Knight suggests, in its first look at August 2018 mortgage pe...
Fri, Sep 21 2018, 5:28 PM
By today, it became clear that bonds were fully locked into a sideways consolidation in a range defined by the highs seen on Wed/Thu and the lows mark...
Fri, Sep 21 2018, 4:46 PM
Mortgage rates actually fell today, on average--something they haven't been able to say all week, or indeed at nearly any time during the past 4 weeks...
Fri, Sep 21 2018, 4:44 PM
Even as flood water continue to sit in living rooms and kitchens across a large swath of North Carolina it is clear that most of those homes are not i...
Fri, Sep 21 2018, 10:15 AM
More often than not, when I use the word "believe" (or belief), it's in some vague and positive context. For instance, something like "bond buyers ar...
Fri, Sep 21 2018, 8:40 AM
When I spent an hour interviewing Angelo Mozilo on stage last week for the American Pacific Mortgage Summit, one of the issues we discussed was the co...
Thu, Sep 20 2018, 5:28 PM
After a series of demoralizing losses, it feels like some small victory for bonds to simply remain sideways today. That wasn't necessarily a given ...
Thu, Sep 20 2018, 4:40 PM
Mortgage rates were mostly able to hold steady today, although they technically moved just a bit higher and that technically leaves them at the highes...
Thu, Sep 20 2018, 11:25 AM
It was a disappointment, but at least it wasn't a loss. Existing home sales, which were expected to increase in August after four straight months of d...
Thu, Sep 20 2018, 9:00 AM
This Saturday is the autumn equinox – season-wise, we know what is on the way. “Rob, we, like everyone else, are watching the approaching winter, and ...
Thu, Sep 20 2018, 8:18 AM
One of the themes we often revisit in times of trouble is the long-term bull market in bonds. This traces back to the 80's and provides a shockingly ...
Thu, Sep 20 2018, 8:08 AM
The share of loans originated for refinancing rose in August for the first time this year. Ellie Mae's Origination Insight Report shows that closed tr...
Wed, Sep 19 2018, 4:36 PM
The titular question could be taken two ways . Is the selling pressure in bonds over? Is the "low rate environment" that's been in effect since mid-2...
Wed, Sep 19 2018, 3:37 PM
Mortgage rates are in bad shape . At some point in the past 3 days (depends on the lender), top tier 30yr fixed rate offerings hit their highest level...
Wed, Sep 19 2018, 10:04 AM
Both permits and starts were expected to pick up in August, at least holding on to their slight gains in July. Housing starts did deliver, posting a s...
Wed, Sep 19 2018, 9:05 AM
I received this question from a well-known lender in Texas. “Rob, our company views loan processors as the unsung heroes of lending. We’re evaluating ...
Wed, Sep 19 2018, 8:10 AM
Labor Day typically marks the end of summer and the resumption of business as usual. Hopefully it also marked the beginning of a turnaround for mortga...
Tue, Sep 18 2018, 4:17 PM
Remember early 2018 when the fear was compounded by this list of bad actors?
increased Treasury issuance to pay for the revenue shortfall in the...
Tue, Sep 18 2018, 3:35 PM
Mortgage rates edged up to 4-year highs with yesterday's bond market losses and things went from bad to worse today. Bond markets (which underlie and ...
Tue, Sep 18 2018, 10:29 AM
Builder confidence in the market for newly-built single-family homes stabilized a bit in September. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/W...
Tue, Sep 18 2018, 9:14 AM
Not to be confused with the Red Sea, which is an actual place, the sea of red in the title is merely a reference to general bias toward weakness in bo...
Tue, Sep 18 2018, 8:41 AM
TRID 2.0: mandatory compliance on 10/1 is only a few weeks away. Temenos has a primer on it , as does Qualia . The MBA had a piece on it . The NY MBA ...
Mon, Sep 17 2018, 5:06 PM
10yr yields briefly hit their highest levels since May 23rd this morning after one large trade started a snowball sell-off in Treasuries. Before th...
Mon, Sep 17 2018, 4:39 PM
Mortgage rates may have had a fairly bad day last Friday, but today was worse . Today officially saw the average lender back at rates not seen since M...
Mon, Sep 17 2018, 3:11 PM
The robust growth in the economy in the second quarter may be the final peak of this expansion according to Fannie Mae's Economic Development Report f...
Mon, Sep 17 2018, 11:00 AM
There were quite a few recent milestones, high and low, noted in the Quarter 2 Residential Property Loan Origination Report from ATTOM Data Solutions....
Mon, Sep 17 2018, 9:18 AM
September continues to be an unfriendly month for bonds, marked by an unfriendly trend that has carried yields almost exclusively higher. Some of t...
Mon, Sep 17 2018, 9:03 AM
Given plenty of warning, and evacuations, the deaths in the Southeast from Florence have people wondering, “Why do residents stick around?” It is comp...
Fri, Sep 14 2018, 4:48 PM
August was nice. September is mean... at least if you're a bond.
Investors wanted you in August when it was still unclear whether or not Turkey...
Fri, Sep 14 2018, 4:18 PM
Mortgage rates had a bad day. Even after a weaker reading on Retail Sales (something that normally helps), the bond market lost ground. Unfortunately,...
Fri, Sep 14 2018, 11:31 AM
Even as Hurricane Florence is pushing unprecedented levels of flood waters into North and South Carolina homes, CoreLogic is issuing estimates regardi...
Fri, Sep 14 2018, 11:19 AM
While applications for financing new home purchases declined in August, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is predicting a bump in the month's new...
Fri, Sep 14 2018, 8:58 AM
“Rob, the number of vendors at mortgage conferences seems to be growing. Any idea how many vendors (vs. lenders) there are?” I had no idea but turned ...
Fri, Sep 14 2018, 8:32 AM
The question posed in the title is just a bit too big for us to cover in this humble "day ahead" post, but we can touch on a few key points. I just t...
Thu, Sep 13 2018, 4:53 PM
Bond markets were clearly interested in today's Consumer Price Index (CPI) data. It generated a larger single minute of volume than the minute follow...
Thu, Sep 13 2018, 3:34 PM
Mortgage rates fell modestly today, following a weaker-than-expected report on inflation. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures the change in prices...
Thu, Sep 13 2018, 11:58 AM
The risk of mortgage fraud jumped by 12.4 percent on an annual basis in the second quarter, the seventh consecutive quarter in which it has increased ...
Thu, Sep 13 2018, 9:12 AM
Right off the bat, with respect to the headline, I'll let you know that the answer is going to be "it depends." More on that in a moment. Bonds are...
Thu, Sep 13 2018, 8:57 AM
“Rob, would you happen to have a suggestion as to where I can find information as to the number of HUD loans done on manufactured housing last year, o...
Wed, Sep 12 2018, 4:06 PM
Today brought two events that should theoretically have helped bonds: a much weaker producer level inflation reading (2.4 vs 2.7 forecast for core...
Wed, Sep 12 2018, 3:20 PM
Mortgage rates managed to remain unchanged today despite the fact that underlying bond markets were stronger. Stronger bond markets are typically asso...
Wed, Sep 12 2018, 2:56 PM
In the last half of 2017 the three credit bureaus, Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian, agreed to change the way they handle collection accounts. These ...
Wed, Sep 12 2018, 8:53 AM
We’re always reminded that nature bats last. Every lender that I know of bases their disaster policies directly from FEMA’s declarations or from other...
