Wed, Sep 27 2017, 9:10 AM
A second consecutive downturn in refinancing volume during the week ended September 22 offset one of the best weeks for purchase mortgage applications...
Tue, Sep 26 2017, 4:33 PM
Today was another good day for bond markets despite the fact that Treasury yields moved somewhat higher during the course of trading hours. At leas...
Tue, Sep 26 2017, 3:30 PM
There are copious resources available on what you should do during the loan process to expedite your closing. Your loan officer probably gave you a “t...
Tue, Sep 26 2017, 3:09 PM
Mortgage rates improved moderately today, making this the 4th straight business day without any new weakness (aka "higher rates"). It's necessary to i...
Tue, Sep 26 2017, 10:43 AM
New home sales were down again in August, following a 9.4 percent plunge in July. The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Devel...
Tue, Sep 26 2017, 9:59 AM
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index accelerated again in July , posting a 5.9 percent year-over-year gain compared to 5.8 pe...
Tue, Sep 26 2017, 9:21 AM
Don’t you hate it when the dog tracks muddy footprints into the house? It certainly doesn’t help if you’re trying to sell your house. What if the foot...
Tue, Sep 26 2017, 9:05 AM
For some of you, this may seem very basic. For others, hopefully it will serve as an eye-opener or even just a useful refresher. I got the inspirati...
Mon, Sep 25 2017, 5:16 PM
It's tempting to say that bond markets are definitively pushing back against the sharp correction that brought rates higher over the past 2 weeks. In...
Mon, Sep 25 2017, 4:37 PM
Mortgage rates held their ground yet again , and are finally starting to look resilient after a relatively sharp move higher over the past 2 weeks. Th...
Mon, Sep 25 2017, 12:38 PM
Since the fourth quarter of 2016, lenders have increasingly reported to Fannie Mae that they have been loosening their home mortgage credit standards....
Mon, Sep 25 2017, 10:37 AM
Home sales might be a bit disappointing, but the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) says consumer attitudes about the economy are not the reason ...
Mon, Sep 25 2017, 9:29 AM
After accelerating on a year-over-year basis through every previous month in 2017, the rate of home price appreciation appears to have stabilized in J...
Mon, Sep 25 2017, 9:23 AM
Think you have problems? What if you owned a mall and your main tenant is Toys “R” Us? As in the Toys “R” Us that declared bankruptcy. You aint alone:...
Mon, Sep 25 2017, 9:03 AM
The current week begins with bonds holding ground for a 3rd day after a fairly sharp selling spree in the preceding 2 weeks. The big question is whet...
Fri, Sep 22 2017, 4:52 PM
Who knows how today's trading would have unfolded absent the overnight headlines that North Korea was planning to test an ICBM with a Hydrogen warhead...
Fri, Sep 22 2017, 4:27 PM
Mortgage rates held their ground yesterday. That was a refreshing development given the abrupt move higher over the past 2 weeks and a relatively thre...
Fri, Sep 22 2017, 12:26 PM
Refinancing accounted for 35 percent of all mortgages originated in August, unchanged from July, but down from 47 percent at the beginning of the year...
Fri, Sep 22 2017, 11:14 AM
Sometimes government gets it right. The Urban Institute (UI) clearly thinks that the Home Affordable Refinance Program, at least in its second iterati...
Fri, Sep 22 2017, 9:37 AM
Welcome to the autumn equinox. How about this? There have been no public CFPB enforcement actions or consent orders dealing with QM, ATR, or TRID. Zer...
Fri, Sep 22 2017, 9:18 AM
Rising home prices continue to fuel fast growth in household equity. CoreLogic said on Thursday that owners of mortgaged properties in the U.S. (rough...
Fri, Sep 22 2017, 8:59 AM
With a dearth of economic data on the calendar, bond traders were set to take cues from other traders, technical levels, and perhaps a big-ticket head...
Thu, Sep 21 2017, 4:40 PM
In a sick way, it would have been easier to see additional weakness in bond markets today. At least that would have jived with past precedent of "c...
Thu, Sep 21 2017, 3:44 PM
Mortgage rates have been higher almost exclusively for the past 2 weeks. Yesterday was no exception as the Federal Reserve released a rate hike foreca...
Thu, Sep 21 2017, 12:36 PM
Hard to believe it's already that time again, but Freddie Mac's Economic and Housing Research Group are out with their forecast for 2018. The headline...
Thu, Sep 21 2017, 9:48 AM
Home prices increased by 0.2 percent from June to July according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA's) House Price Index (HPI). The previou...
Thu, Sep 21 2017, 9:43 AM
Remember when the Grinch's heart grew 3 sizes? No, I mean, do you really remember watching that movie for the first time and the feeling you had wh...
Thu, Sep 21 2017, 9:25 AM
I am currently in South Carolina, and as it turns out, no other U.S. region is more populous than the South Atlantic United States (Washington, D.C., ...
Wed, Sep 20 2017, 5:28 PM
Today's Fed announcement wasn't appreciably different than most economists, traders, and armchair analysts expected. They confirmed the inception o...
Wed, Sep 20 2017, 5:12 PM
Mortgage rates rose today following the announcement and--more importantly--the Fed's updated economic projections . The Fed holds 8 meetings a year. ...
Wed, Sep 20 2017, 2:04 PM
(Additions underlined, deletions struck through)
Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in June July indicates that the...
Wed, Sep 20 2017, 10:53 AM
August was yet another disappointing month for existing home sales. The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) says those sales were down for the fou...
Wed, Sep 20 2017, 10:27 AM
UCD Information As announced in September 2016,the Uniform Closing Dataset (UCD) mandate remains September 25, 2017Lenders who can deliver the UCD are...
Wed, Sep 20 2017, 8:52 AM
Overall mortgage application activity diminished significantly during the week ended September 15, but refinancing continued to hold its own, represen...
Wed, Sep 20 2017, 8:33 AM
Much like an actor can get lost in a role and take things a bit too far, bond markets played the part of "a market undergoing a correction" a little ...
Tue, Sep 19 2017, 5:33 PM
While MBS managed to remain 1 tick in positive territory today, Treasury yields were higher on the day and the overall mood in bond markets managed ...
Tue, Sep 19 2017, 4:36 PM
Mortgage rates remained unchanged today, on average. This keeps them in line with their highest levels in more than a month, though admittedly, there ...
Tue, Sep 19 2017, 1:42 PM
Jumbo refinances led the way as mortgage fraud risk posted another gain in the second quarter of 2017. CoreLogic reports that overall risk, as measure...
Tue, Sep 19 2017, 10:03 AM
Residential construction outcomes in August were mixed, with permitting enjoying a strong comeback after more than a 4 percent downturn in July, but h...
Tue, Sep 19 2017, 9:15 AM
Ginnie, FHA and VA News Lender updates regarding Texas and Florida are quieting down slightly, so let's play some catch up on government programs. Gin...
Tue, Sep 19 2017, 8:54 AM
Ahoy ye salty dogs sailing the high seas of the mortgage world. Another year has come and gone without any grand preparations for Talk Like a Pirate ...
Mon, Sep 18 2017, 4:49 PM
Bonds got off to a weaker start on this Fed week, and there weren't any convenient scapegoats in sight. That said, there were a few caveats. Most ...
Mon, Sep 18 2017, 3:55 PM
Mortgage rates resumed their recent uptrend today, after taking a quick break to end the week last Friday. The result is another push up to the highes...
Mon, Sep 18 2017, 12:21 PM
A new study is providing more evidence that student debt is disrupting the lifecycle of the housing market. The survey, conducted jointly by the Natio...
Mon, Sep 18 2017, 10:36 AM
Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, which ravaged Texas and Florida respectively, are taking at least some of the blame for diminishing builder confidence in ...
Mon, Sep 18 2017, 9:29 AM
In the literal wake of a second major hurricane in as many weeks, Black Knight Financial Services is again warning of some potentially disastrous outc...
Mon, Sep 18 2017, 9:23 AM
Saturday's commentary contained a letter from a reader saying, "Dodd Frank may have added more systematic risk than anyone had previously considered, ...
Mon, Sep 18 2017, 9:04 AM
Wednesday's Fed Announcement is one of the best-telegraphed in Fed history. Multiple speakers--including Yellen herself--have all but promised that t...
Fri, Sep 15 2017, 5:09 PM
Between the overnight session and domestic trading hours, the following voices tried to get inside the head of bond markets:
A North Korean miss...
Fri, Sep 15 2017, 4:41 PM
Mortgage rates were steady to slightly lower on average today, confirming the end of a somewhat abrupt correction from last week's 2017 lows. In other...
