Mon, Jun 18 2018, 4:30 PM
These sorts of days (where nothing happens) happen. If you had to bet on a day of the week and a time of year to see them, Summertime Mondays would p...
Mon, Jun 18 2018, 3:58 PM
Mortgage rates were sideways to slightly higher today, depending on the lender. The underlying bond market (which dictates rates) was exceptionally qu...
Mon, Jun 18 2018, 10:22 AM
Builder confidence in the market for new single-family homes ended a three-month slide in May , as the Housing Market Index ticked up two points. This...
Mon, Jun 18 2018, 9:16 AM
Post-Italian drama, bond yields rose for 2 straight weeks heading into last week's Fed and ECB announcements. They both proved friendly and the pos...
Mon, Jun 18 2018, 8:51 AM
Rumors continue to swirl. Will a top-10 bank really terminate hundreds, possibly a thousand, of its retail originators in late July/early August for n...
Mon, Jun 18 2018, 8:27 AM
Americans are sitting on a nearly unprecedented level of untapped wealth - or maybe sitting IN it is more to the point. A report from Black Knight not...
Fri, Jun 15 2018, 5:35 PM
Fresh fears of trade wars pushed stocks and bond yields lower in the overnight session as the White House promised another wave of tariff announcemen...
Fri, Jun 15 2018, 5:22 PM
Mortgage rates fell again today, bringing the average rate just slightly lower on the week. Unlike the past 2 days, there were no big ticket calendar ...
Fri, Jun 15 2018, 9:37 AM
Bond markets have their rally caps on after making it through both central bank announcements this week without suffering any crazy damage. In fact...
Fri, Jun 15 2018, 8:59 AM
Taking a tour around the nation…No one has ever used the term “bespoke” in describing any place I’ve stayed. I barely know what it means. But if you’v...
Thu, Jun 14 2018, 4:15 PM
We knew the ECB (European Central Bank) was going to have to address its bond buying program soon, because it expires after September. Several speake...
Thu, Jun 14 2018, 3:22 PM
Mortgage rates moved LOWER today, following a policy announcement from the European Central Bank (ECB). That claim runs counter to almost any other mo...
Thu, Jun 14 2018, 2:24 PM
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is projecting a decline in new home sales in May. Its computation is based on information from its Builder Appl...
Thu, Jun 14 2018, 9:00 AM
Today's domestic session begins with a positive reaction to the European Central Bank (ECB) announcement. The ECB broke from tradition by dropping ...
Thu, Jun 14 2018, 8:53 AM
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects increasing customer usage of technology will reduce the number of bank tellers by 42,000 through 2026. Gi...
Wed, Jun 13 2018, 5:52 PM
In one sentence, today's Fed rate forecasts pushed bonds into weaker territory at 2pm and Jerome Powell's press conference helped to recover most of...
Wed, Jun 13 2018, 5:18 PM
Mortgage rates moved higher today, following the Fed's much-anticipated policy announcement. Although the Fed changed quite a few words from the annou...
Wed, Jun 13 2018, 2:05 PM
Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in March May indicates that the labor market has continued to strengthen and that ...
Wed, Jun 13 2018, 10:39 AM
Last week the Mortgage Bankers Association said that independent mortgage bankers had reported negative production revenue in the first quarter of thi...
Wed, Jun 13 2018, 9:09 AM
"The dots" refer to the Fed's periodically updated economic projections.
"Periodically, " in this case, means 4 times a year out of the 8 annual ...
Wed, Jun 13 2018, 8:56 AM
Lenders aren’t likely to eliminate their owners or senior management, nor do they want to eliminate producers (who are meeting minimum thresholds) or ...
Wed, Jun 13 2018, 8:06 AM
The flurry of mortgage activity during the week ended June 1st didn't last long. Application volume resumed its months-long retreat last week as inter...
Tue, Jun 12 2018, 5:11 PM
Today turned out to be a dud, thanks to a completely uneventful CPI reading as well as a right-down-the-middle 30yr bond auction. Neither of these ...
Tue, Jun 12 2018, 4:41 PM
Mortgage rates didn't move much today. That keeps them in line with some of the highest levels in nearly 7 years, though the same could be said for a ...
Tue, Jun 12 2018, 11:55 AM
An increase availability of high balance loans helped drive the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA's) Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI) to a ...
Tue, Jun 12 2018, 9:46 AM
Bonds are starting the day in a slightly weaker stance yet again. While we managed to come back from a weaker start yesterday, it's worth checking in...
Tue, Jun 12 2018, 9:13 AM
Some banks have concluded they will have to support Libor after 2021 , when alternative rates are in place. The banks hope to avoid disruption from a ...
Mon, Jun 11 2018, 4:29 PM
As the value of residential real estate rises with home prices, so has the owner's equity share of that value. Jing Fu, writing in the National Associ...
Mon, Jun 11 2018, 4:17 PM
History suggests that Fed/ECB meetings in June are more than up to the task of causing significant volatility in bond markets. It also suggests tha...
Mon, Jun 11 2018, 3:49 PM
Mortgage rates edged up to the highest levels in several weeks today. Only a handful of days from mid-May stand between current levels and the highest...
Mon, Jun 11 2018, 9:22 AM
Bond markets have weathered the storm of Italian political drama, which created the bulk of volatility over the past 3 weeks. They've considered the ...
Mon, Jun 11 2018, 8:56 AM
Residential lenders aren’t the only ones having a tough time out there. Builder Hovnanian reported a Q2 loss of $9.8 million. The Social Security prog...
Fri, Jun 8 2018, 4:56 PM
What a quiet and boring trading session it was! Well, to be fair, there's still half an hour left as I type this, but most bond market participants m...
Fri, Jun 8 2018, 3:31 PM
Mortgage rates were steady again today, holding on to the improvements seen yesterday afternoon following a surprise "flash rally" in bond markets. Su...
Fri, Jun 8 2018, 10:05 AM
Despite declining consumer confidence about buying a home, Fannie Mae's Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI) hit a second consecutive survey high in ...
Fri, Jun 8 2018, 9:06 AM
The day is young, but the fact that we're starting out with much of yesterday's "flash" rally intact means that new doors are opening for bonds.
...
Fri, Jun 8 2018, 8:37 AM
For me this week includes time in Indianapolis and Chicago. Once again, I am impressed by the talent in residential lending – the industry is filled w...
Thu, Jun 7 2018, 5:01 PM
Today ended up being all about the early afternoon "flash crash" in bond yields (from 2.94 to 2.884% in fairly short order). While they're not common...
Thu, Jun 7 2018, 4:47 PM
Happy Anniversary - or something... It is a decade since the financial crisis and ultimately the Great Recession began. Bear Stearns collapsed in Marc...
Thu, Jun 7 2018, 4:24 PM
Mortgage rates were steady to slightly lower today, depending on the lender and the time of day. Rates were higher earlier this morning as bond market...
Thu, Jun 7 2018, 11:22 AM
A nine-month search for a replacement for David H. Stevens as president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) ended today with the selecti...
Thu, Jun 7 2018, 9:34 AM
Stop me if you've heard this one before. Here's a formula for one of the ways bond markets move: Rates fall based on a particular risky eventuality. ...
Thu, Jun 7 2018, 8:56 AM
Life is full of ups and downs. Some news is devastating, some of it not so much. But remember how bad it felt, that feeling in your stomach, when some...
Wed, Jun 6 2018, 5:32 PM
Bonds were weaker right from the start today as the overnight session saw several members of the European Central Bank comment on tapering prospects...
Wed, Jun 6 2018, 3:25 PM
Mortgage rates rose today, resuming an upward trend that began last week after political turmoil in Italy began to die down. More simply put, rates ha...
Wed, Jun 6 2018, 3:19 PM
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said on Wednesday that independent mortgage banks and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered banks reported net pro...
Wed, Jun 6 2018, 11:23 AM
A Selling Guide Announcement from Fannie Mae on Tuesday introduced a new initiative for loans secured by manufactured housing. The MH Advantage progra...
Wed, Jun 6 2018, 9:53 AM
I owe you an apology. I caused a bit of a sell-off in bond markets today. It all started yesterday afternoon when I called attention to the fact tha...
Wed, Jun 6 2018, 8:32 AM
Two companies, Google and Facebook, are dominating the digital side of the marketing business. Six out of every ten dollars spent on digital ads is sp...
Wed, Jun 6 2018, 8:11 AM
The dip in mortgage rates reported by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) for the week ended June 1 was small compared to the 10-basis point declin...
