Tue, Jan 30 2018, 9:35 AM
Bonds enter the 2nd day of the week without any major reprieve in the selling trend. That trend kicked into a higher gear yesterday, prompting us to ...
Tue, Jan 30 2018, 9:23 AM
Opening today’s note with something non-business related, before the commentary comes out Wednesday (tomorrow) morning, we’ll have a full lunar eclips...
Mon, Jan 29 2018, 5:26 PM
In a perfect world, massive sell-offs in bond markets would have logical explanations--the sort of tidy cause and effect relationships often seen fo...
Mon, Jan 29 2018, 4:39 PM
Mortgage rates are in trouble . This will come as no surprise to regular readers. For the past few weeks, rates made several successive runs up to the...
Mon, Jan 29 2018, 10:40 AM
"Perfect storm" is an overused term, and there other, more colorful descriptors I'd use to describe the storm that's been battering bond markets for...
Mon, Jan 29 2018, 9:22 AM
Home prices measured by Black Knight's Home Price Index (HPI) achieved their 67 th consecutive year-over year increase in November. The HPI rose 6.44 ...
Mon, Jan 29 2018, 9:12 AM
Lenders in the US should be aware of what’s going on in the United Kingdom’s mortgage community – it won’t make any investor in mortgages feel better ...
Fri, Jan 26 2018, 4:59 PM
Last week, I noted that the current week wasn't likely to see bond yields rise because we'd just had 3 straight weeks of clear moves higher. We don...
Fri, Jan 26 2018, 2:02 PM
Mortgage rates moved higher today, bringing them up to yet another 9-month high. Underlying bond markets ended the week in roughly the same shape as l...
Fri, Jan 26 2018, 10:09 AM
Freddie Mac reported today that its total mortgage portfolio increased at an annualized rate of 9.0 percent in December. The portfolio balance at the ...
Fri, Jan 26 2018, 9:56 AM
Today's chart is complicated at first glance, but I'll walk you through it step by step. I'll also cover it in today's Huddle video for MBS Live me...
Fri, Jan 26 2018, 9:13 AM
When I grow up I want to… live in a shipping container live in a shipping container ? Hey, don’t laugh… they’re here, and some suggest are a piece of ...
Thu, Jan 25 2018, 5:23 PM
There were several exciting lead changes in today's game for bond markets. The early inning were devoted to parsing the European Central Bank's (EC...
Thu, Jan 25 2018, 4:54 PM
Mortgage rates improved modestly today, bringing them back in line with Wednesday afternoon's best levels. After underlying bond markets overcame vola...
Thu, Jan 25 2018, 10:45 AM
After three solid months of new home sales, some give-back could only be expected ; exactly what happened in December. The Census Bureau and the Depar...
Thu, Jan 25 2018, 9:13 AM
Yes, rates have gone up, but residential applications have been up for three straight weeks. There is little denying that employment, housing, and the...
Thu, Jan 25 2018, 8:49 AM
Corrections are one of the trading themes we frequently discuss when there is broader momentum in either direction. In its simplest form, a correcti...
Wed, Jan 24 2018, 4:27 PM
Yesterday was nice while it lasted. Against a sea of redness, it stood out like a beautiful green shoreline. Unfortunately, that shoreline turned ...
Wed, Jan 24 2018, 3:34 PM
After taking just one day off from the prevailing move higher, mortgage rates were back at it today, heading back to the worst levels in more than 9 m...
Wed, Jan 24 2018, 11:22 AM
Despite a poor showing in December , existing home sales in 2017 were the best levels in 11 years. The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) said th...
Wed, Jan 24 2018, 9:56 AM
Today is shaping up to be one of those days where we start off with a large overnight bond market movement followed by a rush of attempted explanatio...
Wed, Jan 24 2018, 9:56 AM
The Federal Housing Finance Agency said its House Price Index (HPI) racked up a 0.4 percent gain in November and the 0.5 percent appreciation rate rep...
Wed, Jan 24 2018, 9:16 AM
“The kids convinced me to make popcorn for breakfast. That makes me either the best or worst dad ever – not sure which.” Breakfast at home is a fond m...
Wed, Jan 24 2018, 8:31 AM
Mortgage applications continue on the tear they started during the first week of 2018. The Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA's) Market Composite Ind...
Tue, Jan 23 2018, 3:49 PM
Fannie Mae's Economic and Strategic Research Group (ESR) focused on the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, passed late last year, in its January Economic Deve...
Tue, Jan 23 2018, 3:17 PM
Mortgage rates finally managed to move lower in a small but meaningful way today--something they haven't done in more than 2 weeks! During that time, ...
Tue, Jan 23 2018, 4:27 PM
It took 3 consecutive days of pushing into the weakest levels in more than 3 years for bond markets to figure out how to rally by more than a token ...
Tue, Jan 23 2018, 10:13 AM
Black Knight notes a significant uptick in seriously delinquent mortgages in December. The number of loans that were 90 or more days overdue increased...
Tue, Jan 23 2018, 9:23 AM
Now that the government has re-opened and furloughed bison are streaming back into various national parks, let’s turn back to… LO comp? “Rob, are you ...
Tue, Jan 23 2018, 8:49 AM
Perhaps you're already well aware that Haruhiko Kuroda is the head of the Bank of Japan (BOJ) , and a Ben Bernanke of sorts when it comes to bringing...
Mon, Jan 22 2018, 5:31 PM
Bonds ended in the green today, albeit just barely . Normally that wouldn't be a bad thing, but today's example leaves a bit to be desired.
I sho...
Mon, Jan 22 2018, 5:13 PM
With a stop-gap funding bill likely to be approved tonight, the following will not be germane for long, but it could serve as a template for the next ...
Mon, Jan 22 2018, 4:34 PM
Mortgage rates pushed up to yet another 9-month high today--something that's become all too common in the past few weeks. Just as troubling is the fac...
Mon, Jan 22 2018, 12:15 PM
Last year's Federal Reserve actions, raising the target interest rate three times, led to about a 0.75 percentage point increase in the 1-year Constan...
Mon, Jan 22 2018, 9:19 AM
If you want to read up on the latest Fannie lawsuit, here’s one dealing with a stripper hired into Fannie’s IT group but with unusual manager expectat...
Mon, Jan 22 2018, 9:05 AM
Markets closed on Friday with a government shutdown still in limbo. Ostensibly, that meant the reaction in stocks and bonds wouldn't be fully seen un...
Fri, Jan 19 2018, 7:27 PM
Today's sell-off brought 10yr yields to their highest levels since the middle of 2014 (when they were on their way down following the taper tantrum....
Fri, Jan 19 2018, 6:24 PM
Mortgage rates remained at 9-month highs today, with most lenders in worse shape than yesterday. In the morning, the sky hadn't yet fallen, the averag...
Fri, Jan 19 2018, 12:44 PM
The bidding wars are back . With home prices and sales back to or above pre-crisis levels and the inventory of available homes at records lows, CoreLo...
Fri, Jan 19 2018, 11:30 AM
Bloomberg News is reporting on a proposal from Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Melvin Watt regarding the future of Fannie Mae and Fredd...
Fri, Jan 19 2018, 9:33 AM
While recently passed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will benefit the take-home pay of most Americans, and allow them to save up to buy a home if they wish, ot...
Fri, Jan 19 2018, 9:13 AM
Yesterday's recap is a good read if you didn't happen to catch it. Here's a link.
In general, there are 2 things going on with rates right now. ...
Fri, Jan 19 2018, 9:00 AM
As if we don’t have enough measures of housing and real estate prices, here’s another one. The RE/MAX National Housing Report tells us what most alrea...
Thu, Jan 18 2018, 4:49 PM
Well... at least things are interesting . The winter holidays are always a challenge from an analytical and market-watching standpoint. It seems li...
Thu, Jan 18 2018, 3:45 PM
It's Thursday, which means Freddie Mac released its weekly update on mortgage rates . This is typically not that big of a deal because mortgage rates ...
Thu, Jan 18 2018, 12:27 PM
There is a rather unusual request up on the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA's) website. Two FHFA analysts, saying that the issue of updating th...
Thu, Jan 18 2018, 9:57 AM
Both housing starts and permits were expected to retreat a bit in December , following their strong performances in October and November. Permits did ...
Thu, Jan 18 2018, 9:37 AM
Is the decades-long bull market in bonds over? I imagine we'll be talking about this sort of thing every time yields spike to multi-month highs and...
Thu, Jan 18 2018, 9:36 AM
The new tax law appeared to have slightly influenced mortgage originations in December, ahead of its actual implementation. Ellie Mae, in its December...
Thu, Jan 18 2018, 9:30 AM
Since 2006, mortgage interest rates have fallen 242 basis points, from 6.41 percent to 3.99 percent. A decline of 246 basis points in the 10-Year Trea...
