Wed, Jun 21 2017, 9:21 AM
The volume of applications for refinancing expanded for the third consecutive time during the week ended June 16. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MB...
Wed, Jun 21 2017, 9:17 AM
Here we are again with oil falling into new lows for the year and suddenly, it's the inspiration for everything according to most mainstream financial...
Tue, Jun 20 2017, 4:54 PM
Today had no significant news or events on the calendar, thus leaving traders to watch other traders for cues. To some extent, several Fed speakers g...
Tue, Jun 20 2017, 3:44 PM
Mortgage rates were steady to slightly lower today, with underlying bond markets essentially erasing the damage seen yesterday. This was neither here ...
Tue, Jun 20 2017, 10:20 AM
New home purchase mortgages became a little riskier in the first quarter of 2017 per CoreLogic. The company said its Housing Credit Index (HCI), which...
Tue, Jun 20 2017, 9:43 AM
Mortgage Bankers Association President and CEO David H. Stevens, has released a statement objecting to one of the three recommendations made this week...
Tue, Jun 20 2017, 9:42 AM
Fannie Mae's Economic and Strategic Research Team hedged a few bets in its June economic summary. It laid out some wild cards while predicting that th...
Tue, Jun 20 2017, 9:28 AM
“People who don’t give up attract other people’s attention.” As do people whose humor is stuck in 4th grade – like mine usually is. For example . Reve...
Tue, Jun 20 2017, 9:08 AM
The week continues to offer little by way of scheduled economic data/events to stir the pot, thus leaving us to observe the underlying biases among tr...
Mon, Jun 19 2017, 5:06 PM
Right out of the gate this morning, NY Fed President William Dudley set a rather negative tone for bond markets with several comments that essentially...
Mon, Jun 19 2017, 4:17 PM
Mortgage rates were mostly flat again today, despite bond market weakness (lower bond prices generally mean higher rates). Between MBS (the mortgage-b...
Mon, Jun 19 2017, 10:58 AM
In some areas, they are called "scrape-offs," but the usual term is tear-down ; demolishing an existing home to build a new one in its place. Tear-dow...
Mon, Jun 19 2017, 9:40 AM
The past 3 trading sessions marked 3 of the 5 lowest closes for 10yr yields in 2017. Friday's strength did a nice job of pushing back against a poten...
Mon, Jun 19 2017, 8:59 AM
Winston Churchill said that, “If the present tries to sit in judgement on the past, it will lose the future.” No argument there in mortgage banking. U...
Fri, Jun 16 2017, 5:04 PM
Today was destined to be a sideways grind at slightly weaker levels for bond markets. This would have extended the theme that had been in place sin...
Fri, Jun 16 2017, 4:37 PM
Mortgage rates were flat today, after weaker-than-expected construction data prompted a positive bounce for bond markets. In general, bonds (which dic...
Fri, Jun 16 2017, 10:09 AM
Both permits for construction of privately-owned housing units and beginning construction in May were well below expectations, the second consecutive ...
Fri, Jun 16 2017, 9:17 AM
What are we going to be talking about this summer? One topic is the economy, and the thought that rising short-term rates are a signal that the econom...
Fri, Jun 16 2017, 9:09 AM
Bond markets may not give a stellar performance today, offering resounding confirmation of an ongoing rally. Conversely, they're not likely to rise e...
Fri, Jun 16 2017, 8:54 AM
The Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) at Harvard University has released its latest report on the State of the Nation's Housing . The report, is...
Thu, Jun 15 2017, 4:26 PM
To be fair to the Fed, they didn't really cause most of today's weakness. Bond markets already showed their hand with respect to yesterday's Fed ev...
Thu, Jun 15 2017, 3:05 PM
Mortgage rates rose moderately today, as bond markets generally bounced back from the best levels in 8 months yesterday. Despite the bounce, rates are...
Thu, Jun 15 2017, 2:58 PM
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is expecting May to provide an uptick in new home sales. Results of MBA's Builder Application Survey indicate t...
Thu, Jun 15 2017, 12:22 PM
The competition for housing is heating up along with the summer temperatures and continuing to set new records. The average house sold in May went und...
Thu, Jun 15 2017, 10:30 AM
Builder confidence in the new home market appeared to take a tumble in June, per the latest survey conducted by the National Association of Home Build...
Thu, Jun 15 2017, 9:34 AM
In legal news, in Denver, the state's high court has ruled that HOAs can’t necessarily sue in construction defects disputes . A couple thousand miles ...
Thu, Jun 15 2017, 9:34 AM
Yesterday's rally was a potential game changer for the "great push back" of 2017 . That's not the official term for the past several months of gener...
Wed, Jun 14 2017, 5:34 PM
In a weird way, today's Fed announcement came out right at 8:30am when Core CPI dropped to 1.7%, falling well short of the 1.9% median forecast (year-...
Wed, Jun 14 2017, 5:10 PM
Mortgage rates fell convincingly today, though not all lenders adjusted rates sheets in proportion to the gains seen in bond markets (which underlie r...
Wed, Jun 14 2017, 2:03 PM
(Additions underlined, deletions struck through)
Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in March May indicates that the...
Wed, Jun 14 2017, 11:46 AM
The Treasury Department has released the first in what it describes as a series of reports to the President looking at the country's financial regulat...
Wed, Jun 14 2017, 8:59 AM
Depository banks are in the business to lend, and are now concerned about commercial lending. What do Cleveland, Memphis, and Chicago have in common? ...
Wed, Jun 14 2017, 8:32 AM
If you follow bond market movement for long enough, one thing becomes clear above all others: the Fed is the most reliable explanation for shifts in m...
Wed, Jun 14 2017, 8:28 AM
Another week of declining interest rates boosted refinance activity and sent overall mortgage activity higher during the week ended July 9. The Mortga...
Tue, Jun 13 2017, 4:55 PM
The past 3 trading sessions have largely represented a consolidation in prices and yields, just off the best levels of the year. There has certainl...
Tue, Jun 13 2017, 3:20 PM
Mortgage rates moved modestly higher today, for most lenders. This had more to do with yesterday's market movement than today's. Bond markets were wea...
Tue, Jun 13 2017, 3:00 PM
CoreLogic reports that mortgage delinquencies in March were at a 10 year low. The company's Loan Performance Insights Report shows that 4.4 percent of...
Tue, Jun 13 2017, 9:02 AM
How do you like these two headlines today, good news/bad news for lenders? “Fed set to shrink huge bond portfolio, pushing up interest rates.” And, “T...
Tue, Jun 13 2017, 8:47 AM
While we do have some economic data to get through today (Producer Prices, which are already out stronger than expected, and the afternoon's 30yr bond...
Mon, Jun 12 2017, 5:16 PM
Today's bond trading was largely a story of the 3yr Treasury auction vs the 10yr Treasury auction. Both of these are used to encountering each other ...
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...
