Mon, Jun 12 2017, 4:46 PM
Mortgage rates were either flat or slightly higher , depending on the lender today. Movement in underlying bond markets suggested a modest increase in...
Mon, Jun 12 2017, 10:48 AM
Does an outdated and sluggish appraisal system give an outsized advantage to cash buyers ? A recent panel discussion sponsored by the Urban Institute ...
Mon, Jun 12 2017, 9:15 AM
There is news out that Brian Brooks, general counsel for Fannie Mae, will be nominated as deputy secretary of the U.S. Treasury. Brooks worked at Cali...
Mon, Jun 12 2017, 9:10 AM
It would be miraculous to see bond markets escape this week without experiencing some sort of reaction to the plethora of data and scheduled events. ...
Fri, Jun 9 2017, 5:20 PM
Yesterday's recap was titled "Surprising (or Not?) Absence of Volatility." Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice... won't be fooled again.
The ...
Fri, Jun 9 2017, 4:13 PM
Mortgage rates moved higher for the second straight day amid a general lack of actionable information. Some investors noted that the results of the el...
Fri, Jun 9 2017, 3:26 PM
Access to mortgage, as measured by the Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI), decreased in May. The Mortgage Bankers Association said the MCAI pul...
Fri, Jun 9 2017, 12:37 PM
Five barriers to homeownership are identified in a new study released on Friday by the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). The white paper, title...
Fri, Jun 9 2017, 10:00 AM
Homeowner equity increased by another 11.2 percent over the four quarters that ended with the first quarter of 2016. CoreLogic's home equity analysis ...
Fri, Jun 9 2017, 9:38 AM
The House of Representatives voted to roll back some of the main regulations contained in the 2010 Dodd-Frank law. It was an almost perfect party-line...
Fri, Jun 9 2017, 9:02 AM
All of our high-risk events for this week have come and gone, and bond markets aren't able to justify the stronger "lead-off" levels that marked the p...
Fri, Jun 9 2017, 8:38 AM
While the attention of much of the country was focused elsewhere on Thursday, the House of Representatives passed the H.R. 10, the Financial Choice Ac...
Thu, Jun 8 2017, 4:55 PM
Perhaps it had to do with yesterday's 1st round of Senate testimony or Comey's prepared remarks giving bond markets an unfriendly bump, but bonds ende...
Thu, Jun 8 2017, 3:09 PM
Mortgage rates rose modestly today after spending 2 days at the best levels in nearly 8 months. Financial markets were tuned in to several key events ...
Thu, Jun 8 2017, 9:36 AM
Home flipping, the practice of buying and then reselling the same property within a 12-month period, fell to the lowest level in two years during the ...
Thu, Jun 8 2017, 9:34 AM
The Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI) decreased fractionally in May, however the change in each of its internal components was decidedl...
Thu, Jun 8 2017, 9:26 AM
No one has a crystal ball, but CNBC makes the point that, as a nation, home prices won't fully recover until 2025 , and that "price gains during the l...
Thu, Jun 8 2017, 9:02 AM
A few days ago, I laid out a bullish long-term case for bond markets. I could probably do something similar for a bearish case, but when it comes to ...
Wed, Jun 7 2017, 4:57 PM
Bond markets were only modestly weaker in the overnight session (unlike yesterday where a majority of the day's weakness was seen overnight), but bega...
Wed, Jun 7 2017, 4:01 PM
Mortgage rates managed to hold in line with 2017's lowest levels for a 2nd day, even though underlying bond markets suggested a move higher . That mea...
Wed, Jun 7 2017, 9:59 AM
Summer is here, school is out for many, and it’s time for vacation, right? Here’s a little trivia for your co-workers. What is number of available vac...
Wed, Jun 7 2017, 9:24 AM
Independent mortgage banks and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered banks reported a second straight quarter of falling profits during the three months ...
Wed, Jun 7 2017, 9:19 AM
One never knows what to expect on the relatively data-free day ahead of a minefield of potential market movers 24 hours later. To be clear, we're tal...
Wed, Jun 7 2017, 8:34 AM
Mortgage application volume rose during the week ended June 2, increasing by 7.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis. The Mortgage Bankers Associat...
Tue, Jun 6 2017, 7:05 PM
After yesterday's modest bond market weakness, we may well have assumed that traders were in their preferred positions ahead of Thursday's big-ticket ...
Tue, Jun 6 2017, 4:20 PM
Mortgage rates unexpectedly fell to new 7-month lows today, following bond market gains in the overnight hours (Asian and European trading sessions). ...
Tue, Jun 6 2017, 9:49 AM
June is National Homeownership Month and the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) says that owning a home is as much a part of the American Dr...
Tue, Jun 6 2017, 9:47 AM
Home price increases moderated slightly in April, at least as measured by the CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI). The company announced an increase of 6...
Tue, Jun 6 2017, 9:40 AM
I received this note/suggestion regarding broker business. " Is California dysfunctional? In California, brokers are typically regulated by the BRE , ...
Tue, Jun 6 2017, 9:28 AM
There are no significant data or events on the calendar today and the Fed remains in its "blackout period" (where Fed speakers abstain from commenting...
Mon, Jun 5 2017, 6:03 PM
ISM Non-Manufacturing was this morning's biggest potential market mover, but it came in very close to consensus. Moreover, its internal components ...
Mon, Jun 5 2017, 5:01 PM
Mortgage rates were modestly higher today after hitting the lowest levels since early November at the end of last week. Along with mid-April, this is ...
Mon, Jun 5 2017, 11:07 AM
It should come as no surprise that the rise in interest rates that occurred after the November 2016 election had a profound impact on mortgage origina...
Mon, Jun 5 2017, 9:10 AM
There are two white lines in today's chart. Each represents the pace of the two most recent rallies in rates (with the latter being the current rally...
Mon, Jun 5 2017, 9:02 AM
The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) published a Press Release announcing an update to the Cybersecurity Assessment Tool . C...
Fri, Jun 2 2017, 6:40 PM
"The gap" refers to the closing yields in 10yr Treasuries of 2.15% on 11/10/2016 followed by opening yields of 2.17% the following business day. Gran...
Fri, Jun 2 2017, 5:49 PM
Mortgage rates moved convincingly lower today following weaker-than-expected employment data from the Labor Department. The big "jobs report" showed o...
Fri, Jun 2 2017, 2:22 PM
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has told reporters he expects a full House vote next week on H.R. 10, The Financial Choice Act which was v...
Fri, Jun 2 2017, 8:50 AM
In celebration of National Doughnut, or Donut, Day, let’s talk about a subset of real estate agents. The typical Realtor , and there are 1.2 million o...
Fri, Jun 2 2017, 8:32 AM
Today's only significant data point will be NFP, which is the most significant piece of scheduled economic data every month! When the economy is in...
Thu, Jun 1 2017, 4:48 PM
Bond markets lost ground today, but less than you might expect given several of the typical inputs. In terms of economic data, this morning's ADP Emp...
Thu, Jun 1 2017, 2:54 PM
Mortgage rates gave back yesterday's gains this morning following a stronger-than-expected employment report from ADP. While this is not the week's bi...
Thu, Jun 1 2017, 11:41 AM
Fannie Mae said on Wednesday that its Book of Business increased at a compounded annual rate of 1.3 percent in April to a value of $3.164 trillion. Th...
Thu, Jun 1 2017, 10:55 AM
The total amount of construction put in place nationally fell in April, but continues at a pace higher than at the same point in 2016. The U.S. Census...
Thu, Jun 1 2017, 9:02 AM
Some may have the perception that no MI company has ever paid a claim, which isn’t true. USMI, the trade group for the majority of MIs, states that MI...
Thu, Jun 1 2017, 8:45 AM
Bond markets had been in a clearly-delineated positive trend from mid-March through mid-April followed by a clearly-delineated negative trend though m...
Wed, May 31 2017, 5:27 PM
If we simply consider the close-of-the-day trading levels in bond markets, today was "unchanged." The intraday activity tells only a slightly more de...
Wed, May 31 2017, 4:57 PM
Mortgage rates improved modestly today as lenders caught up with yesterday afternoon's market movements. Most lenders will issue mid-day changes in ra...
Wed, May 31 2017, 11:49 AM
Several entities that wonder about such things have commented recently on the apparent reluctance of homeowners to sell their homes. Historically Amer...
Wed, May 31 2017, 11:01 AM
Fannie Mae has announced changes in underwriting for loans submitted to its Desktop Underwriter (DU), Version 10.1. The new DU version will be impleme...
