Wed, Jan 3 2018, 4:56 PM
Bond markets improved overnight, but were under pressure in the morning after stronger ISM Manufacturing data and then again following the release o...
Wed, Jan 3 2018, 3:44 PM
Mortgage rates were unchanged to slightly lower today, depending on the lender. Merely holding steady is a victory today. Reason being: bond markets (...
Wed, Jan 3 2018, 11:13 AM
Construction spending in November came in slightly above analysts' consensus for an increase of 0.6 percent. Overall expenditures for construction put...
Wed, Jan 3 2018, 9:37 AM
Today brings the first significant economic data of the new year in the form of ISM Manufacturing at 10am. During times when markets are actively res...
Wed, Jan 3 2018, 9:29 AM
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) closed its offices for the year-end holidays, so today's report on mortgage applications for the week ended Dec...
Wed, Jan 3 2018, 9:18 AM
Regardless of weather, there are 251 business days in 2018, one more than in 2017. For years we’ve been counting the days for rates to move higher, ye...
Tue, Jan 2 2018, 5:43 PM
Bond markets have had worse days , but the average day is definitely better than today. 10yr yields moved more than 5bps higher, bringing them to 2....
Tue, Jan 2 2018, 5:02 PM
Mortgage rates are theoretically supposed to go higher in 2018. Any upward pressure on economic growth or inflation (courtesy of the tax bill, perhaps...
Tue, Jan 2 2018, 10:04 AM
The November home sales market appeared unwilling to acknowledge impending winter , the usual pre-holiday slowdown, or all the predictions of graduall...
Tue, Jan 2 2018, 9:17 AM
One court ruling from 2017 is that a mortgage broker is not a real estate professional , so passive activity rules apply. Yes, 2017 is now in the hist...
Tue, Jan 2 2018, 8:42 AM
New Years Day doesn't always fall on a day that allows for a 3.5-day weekend. When it does (as it did this year), the first day back to work tends to...
Fri, Dec 29 2017, 3:58 PM
There were no significant economic reports today, no major headlines, and no other events that prompted movement in bond markets. As is often the cas...
Fri, Dec 29 2017, 3:38 PM
Mortgage rates were unchanged again today, keeping them at the same stronger levels achieved on Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday's gains were much-neede...
Fri, Dec 29 2017, 9:35 AM
Markets will close early today (2pm ET for bonds), but most of 2017's trading needs have long since been handled for most traders. Case in point, th...
Fri, Dec 29 2017, 9:14 AM
Demographics and Residential Lending Age, population trends, and gender do matter in the home buying process. There, I said it. Someone in their early...
Thu, Dec 28 2017, 6:01 PM
Bond markets sent a fairly clear message today: don't expect much tomorrow. Trading activity is dying down in the same sort of way it did last Thur...
Thu, Dec 28 2017, 5:03 PM
Mortgage rates were broadly unchanged today, despite negative cues from underlying bond markets. In other words, the bonds that account for most mortg...
Thu, Dec 28 2017, 10:05 AM
For further evidence of the uneven recovery among U.S. housing markets , how's this: In the 10 most expensive U.S. metropolitan areas, median home val...
Thu, Dec 28 2017, 9:27 AM
With yesterday's big rally out of the way (a correction to a correction in the yield curve, as discussed in yesterday's close), the most logical impli...
Wed, Dec 27 2017, 5:44 PM
Last Tuesday was not my favorite kind of day when it comes to discussing reasons for bond market movement. The tax bill was in the process of being pa...
Wed, Dec 27 2017, 5:26 PM
Mortgage lenders continue to see a negative profit outlook for the first quarter of the New Year, the fifth consecutive quarter they have done so. Thi...
Wed, Dec 27 2017, 3:38 PM
Mortgage rates had a bad week last week, quickly rising to the highest levels in months. To make matters more frustrating, there weren't any clearly-d...
Wed, Dec 27 2017, 10:19 AM
Pending home sales pulled off a second straight gain in November, but just barely . The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) said its Pending Home ...
Wed, Dec 27 2017, 9:32 AM
Private education pays well. There were 58 people making over $1,000,000 per year in total compensation as the presidents of private, non-profit colle...
Wed, Dec 27 2017, 9:13 AM
The National Association of Realtors publishes reports for both Pending and Existing Home Sales. The conventional wisdom is that Pending Sales tend t...
Tue, Dec 26 2017, 5:41 PM
Bond markets got off to a seasonally typical start this week with volumes and volatility both virtually nonexistent. There are past instances of vola...
Tue, Dec 26 2017, 4:37 PM
Mortgage rates were lifeless today as financial markets drifted sideways. Although rates CAN move during the last week of December when there's an imb...
Tue, Dec 26 2017, 11:00 AM
Prices maintained their upward trajectory in October, with gains on a national level outstripping those in September. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U...
Tue, Dec 26 2017, 9:21 AM
Welcome to the void--the week that bond markets forgot, and/or the week that bond market participants may wish to forget after 3 and a half more days ...
Tue, Dec 26 2017, 9:19 AM
Among the house price indexes covered by MND, the one provided by Black Knight has shown the most consistent pattern of diminishing appreciation in re...
Tue, Dec 26 2017, 9:14 AM
Congrats to The Money Source. It is on a major hiring spree to build an in-house ad agency in the greater Detroit area. The marketing team will serve ...
Fri, Dec 22 2017, 5:27 PM
Today created very little--if any--need to think, say, or do things that haven't already been thought, said, or done--at least when it comes to bond t...
Fri, Dec 22 2017, 5:03 PM
Mortgage rates didn't move much today, which is a victory unto itself on a week with 3 of the worse consecutive days of the year. In fact, lenders tha...
Fri, Dec 22 2017, 10:39 AM
New home sales pulled off another surprise in November. Sales had posted monthly gains of 6.2 percent and 14.2 percent in September and October, landi...
Fri, Dec 22 2017, 9:36 AM
If you weren't already noticing that the worst of this week's selling spree was over with yesterday's ground-holding, today's early trading essentia...
Fri, Dec 22 2017, 9:16 AM
What's age got to do with anything? In the new issue of STRATMOR Group's Insights report, Sr. Partner Jim Cameron debunks several of myths many lender...
Thu, Dec 21 2017, 5:21 PM
There were several economic reports at 8:30am this morning--names that have some track record of moving markets like GDP, Jobless Claims, and the Phil...
Thu, Dec 21 2017, 3:16 PM
Mortgage rates edged just slightly higher again today, capping the sharpest 3-day increase since late June and leaving the average lender more than an...
Thu, Dec 21 2017, 12:13 PM
Ellie Mae has picked up indications of what it says it will be watching as a possible trend in the data from its November Origination Insight Report. ...
Thu, Dec 21 2017, 10:21 AM
The Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA's) House Price Index (HPI) for September slowed to its lowest level since January , 6.3 percent and the mon...
Thu, Dec 21 2017, 9:40 AM
Agreement has been reached between the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and the Department of the Treasury to reinstate a $3 billion capital rese...
Thu, Dec 21 2017, 9:29 AM
As we discussed yesterday, the flattening of the yield curve has been a dominant trading theme in 2017. It's also been a "crowded trade" for bond mar...
Thu, Dec 21 2017, 9:15 AM
Welcome to the Winter Solstice (yes, more sunlight ahead of us in the Northern Hemisphere!). Things are slowing down ahead of Christmas, shipping and ...
Wed, Dec 20 2017, 4:45 PM
Today was much calmer than yesterday in terms of intraday volatility. The overall trading ranges in 10yr yields and MBS were more than twice as nar...
Wed, Dec 20 2017, 2:26 PM
Mortgage rates continued higher today, largely due to momentum in bond markets (which dictate rates) carrying over from yesterday. Trading was far les...
Wed, Dec 20 2017, 11:04 AM
Existing home sales pulled off a hat trick in November, and the third successive monthly increase was a substantial one. The National Association of R...
Wed, Dec 20 2017, 9:43 AM
Things have gone from "very sideways" to "very bad" for bond markets in less than 48 hours. As of Monday afternoon, this could have been any other ...
Wed, Dec 20 2017, 9:36 AM
“Look, if a man says he will fix it, he will. There’s no need to remind him every six months.” Humor aside, it seems that Facebook is fixing things so...
Wed, Dec 20 2017, 9:23 AM
Mortgage credit risk has edged up over the last year, but CoreLogic says that it remains well within an acceptable range , comparable to that of loans...
Wed, Dec 20 2017, 9:14 AM
The mortgage volume summary issued by the Mortgage Bankers Association for the week ended December 15, and the last before its two-week Christmas hiat...
