Tue, Sep 12 2017, 4:10 PM
Mortgage rates continued higher at a reasonably abrupt pace today as last week's themes have been completely reversed. What themes are those? Generall...
Tue, Sep 12 2017, 11:21 AM
Last year Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae announced that their implementation of the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) would continue through the en...
Tue, Sep 12 2017, 11:21 AM
If anything could be worse than half of the adults in the country having their personal and credit information hacked and stolen, it could be the way ...
Tue, Sep 12 2017, 9:28 AM
Lender and Investor Disaster Updates Conditions are subject to change; check with investors if you have questions. NewLeaf has temporarily ceased fund...
Tue, Sep 12 2017, 8:53 AM
Yesterday was the warning shot and today could see confirmation that bonds are indeed bouncing. Actually, it's probably more appropriate to view ...
Mon, Sep 11 2017, 5:22 PM
Mortgage rates finally had a bad day , but everything's relative. This sort of bad day leaves the average lender quoting rates that would have been th...
Mon, Sep 11 2017, 5:22 PM
We'd been in the throes of a risk-related rally for several weeks that crescendoed last week on a combination of North Korea and natural disasters. ...
Mon, Sep 11 2017, 9:56 AM
While Irma is battering the Florida coast and costing untold billions in damages, Black Knight Financial Services released information about the ultim...
Mon, Sep 11 2017, 9:29 AM
Builder chatter? Builders in Texas, Louisiana, and Florida now have a choice: build new homes or help repair existing stock. Labor will be in short su...
Mon, Sep 11 2017, 8:50 AM
Bond markets are beginning the week in a defensive stance after insurance analysts report expected Irma-related losses to be lower than originally f...
Fri, Sep 8 2017, 5:26 PM
With an absence of significant economic events and the storm of the century bearing down on the Southeast, trading activity was understandably a bit...
Fri, Sep 8 2017, 4:58 PM
Mortgage rates were slightly lower today, despite moderate weakness in underlying bond markets. This would typically coincide with higher rates, but m...
Fri, Sep 8 2017, 11:32 AM
In response to the 2007-2008 financial crisis and the ensuing Great Recession, some central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, put some unconv...
Fri, Sep 8 2017, 9:29 AM
A large earthquake in Mexico, damage in Southern Texas from Hurricane Harvey, and, although Irma has been downgraded, mandatory evacuations in the Mia...
Fri, Sep 8 2017, 9:22 AM
Bonds have been on a tear recently , easily breaking to the lowest yields of the year this week after some exploratory attempts last week. Geopoliti...
Thu, Sep 7 2017, 4:31 PM
2 months ago, today's European Central Bank announcement looked like it would be a big deal insofar as it would be the venue for the ECB's first off...
Thu, Sep 7 2017, 3:06 PM
Mortgage rates didn't move much today, despite plenty of strength in underlying bond markets. This would normally coincide with lower rates, so what's...
Thu, Sep 7 2017, 1:18 PM
As hurricane Irma roars toward Florida, and the Houston area tries to dry out from hurricane Harvey, Fannie Mae is reminding those homeowners might be...
Thu, Sep 7 2017, 12:12 PM
Consumer sentiment regarding whether it is a good time to buy or to sell a home continues to diverge as rising home prices impact both. Fannie Mae sai...
Thu, Sep 7 2017, 9:33 AM
As fires, floods, and storms dominate the headlines, our attention now turns to Irma. With wind speeds of 185mph, it is expected to pass near or just ...
Thu, Sep 7 2017, 8:17 AM
Ask me two months (or even a month ago) and I would have placed today above almost any other in terms of importance to the overall outlook. The rea...
Wed, Sep 6 2017, 4:56 PM
Bond markets began the day holding impressively sideways. Why impressive? Because there was a small laundry list of potential reasons for weakness...
Wed, Sep 6 2017, 4:55 PM
Mortgage rates moved lower this morning, more by way of catching up with yesterday's market movement than anything. Specifically, bond markets (which ...
Wed, Sep 6 2017, 10:45 AM
Mortgage originations by nonbanks have not only surged past those coming from regulated banks, but according to the Urban Institute (UI), they are hel...
Wed, Sep 6 2017, 9:20 AM
I receive my share of emails, and a portion of them ask me “in the weeds” questions about lenders, programs, and states (“Rob, hook me up with a whole...
Wed, Sep 6 2017, 9:16 AM
Until the onset of brinksmanship with North Korea and the appearance of big, back-to-back Hurricanes, financial markets were more focused on long-term...
Wed, Sep 6 2017, 8:14 AM
A resurgence in refinancing drove the volume of mortgage applications higher during the week ended September 1. The Mortgage Bankers Association said ...
Tue, Sep 5 2017, 5:01 PM
Bonds rallied significantly today on a confluence of news. Disparate events and headlines hit markets at just the right time and in just the right ...
Tue, Sep 5 2017, 4:04 PM
Mortgage rates moved lower today on a combination of factors. Chief among these were headlines over the weekend concerning more North Korean weapons t...
Tue, Sep 5 2017, 9:56 AM
Black Knight Financial Services put a coda on home price reports for June while CoreLogic opened the next round for July. Both report another round of...
Tue, Sep 5 2017, 9:29 AM
Welcome to the Monday-est Tuesday of the year. Hey, the cost to produce a home loan has fallen! Per the Mortgage Bankers Association, total loan produ...
Tue, Sep 5 2017, 9:05 AM
Global financial markets moved away from risk to start the holiday-shortened week as more North Korean missile drama made the news over the weekend....
Fri, Sep 1 2017, 6:06 PM
We talk a lot about participation among traders dropping off at mid-day when European markets close, but today's version turned bond markets into a ve...
Fri, Sep 1 2017, 2:24 PM
Mortgage rates were sideways to slightly higher today despite a weak reading of the Employment Situation (aka "the jobs report"). This is traditionall...
Fri, Sep 1 2017, 12:03 PM
Total spending on construction slipped nationwide in July, down 0.6 percent from June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.21 trillion, but it r...
Fri, Sep 1 2017, 9:55 AM
CoreLogic, which provides data and analytics to the insurance as well as the mortgage industry, has issued some preliminary estimates for the resident...
Fri, Sep 1 2017, 9:25 AM
You think you have it rough? Try being a Wells Fargo MLO trying to hold onto your business when every newspaper is carrying stories about the cross-se...
Fri, Sep 1 2017, 8:30 AM
I wish Who Wants to be a Millionaire was still a popular show. Its catchphrases and terminology work really well with bond market psychology. Often ...
Thu, Aug 31 2017, 5:32 PM
Without month-end trading needs and in the absence of one of the most relevant inflation reports, today may well have been a typically slow summerti...
Thu, Aug 31 2017, 4:35 PM
Mortgage rates moved lower today--something they've been more likely to do in general since early July. The gradual downtrend brought them to their be...
Thu, Aug 31 2017, 10:21 AM
Last month's resurgence in pending home sales didn't last long . Sales ended a three-month fad in June with a 1.5 percent increase in the Pending Home...
Thu, Aug 31 2017, 9:07 AM
Calling out attorneys with the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for its "blatant disregard" for judicial instructions, the CFPB was dealt a l...
Thu, Aug 31 2017, 8:34 AM
This week has admittedly been the same sort of summertime trading week that we've seen for most of July and August--perhaps even more so . By that I...
Wed, Aug 30 2017, 5:50 PM
Bond markets had a reasonably good day, all things considered. The caveat is that we shouldn't read much of anything into today's trading because i...
Wed, Aug 30 2017, 4:32 PM
Mortgage rates were technically higher today vs yesterday, but unless you've been following day-to-day movements under a microscope, you probably won'...
Wed, Aug 30 2017, 2:29 PM
To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the demise of the ARM may have been greatly exaggerated . The market share of ARMs (adjustable rate mortgages) dr...
Wed, Aug 30 2017, 12:51 PM
Houstonians in the flood stricken areas are focused on surviving and looking for a place to stay, not finding a way to pay their monthly bills or mort...
Wed, Aug 30 2017, 10:09 AM
We've seen it before and we'll likely see it again. Bond markets (and most other markets, for that matter) respond quickly to some unexpected headlin...
Wed, Aug 30 2017, 9:26 AM
I love it when a roomful of 50, 60, or 70-year old residential lenders is complaining to me about a lack of “new blood” in the business, and I ask the...
Wed, Aug 30 2017, 9:13 AM
Applications for both home purchase mortgages and refinancing declined last week, pulling overall volume lower for the second week in a row. The Mortg...
