Thu, Nov 17 2016, 5:46 PM
Google up the 5-timer club if you're not familiar. We have a new inductee today, although it's not exactly the same club as seen on Saturday Night ...
Thu, Nov 17 2016, 4:48 PM
Mortgage rates may have caught a break yesterday , but today is a different story. Or perhaps it's a different kind of break... a bad one... more of a...
Wed, Nov 16 2016, 10:55 AM
Baby Boomers like lists and rankings. Here is one that I ran across: the 50 highest paying professions not needing a college degree. There are a coupl...
Wed, Nov 16 2016, 10:09 AM
We started to talk about "the gap" in yesterday's closing commentary and unless bond market momentum manages to stay far weaker than anyone expects,...
Wed, Nov 16 2016, 9:18 AM
Mortgage application activity fell decisively in the wake of the presidential elections. While the week ending November 11 culminated with the Veteran...
Wed, Nov 16 2016, 5:40 PM
Bond markets managed to scrape together a day-over-day improvement by a very small margin. 10yr yields closed 1.6bps lower and Fannie 3.5s gained a p...
Wed, Nov 16 2016, 4:40 PM
Mortgage rates finally caught a break today, moving somewhat lower after hitting the highest levels of the year yesterday afternoon. In fact, several ...
Wed, Nov 16 2016, 3:44 PM
Two recent data releases from CoreLogic's Insurance and Spatial Solutions division assess earthquake risk in California and Oklahoma. Yes, Oklahoma, a...
Wed, Nov 16 2016, 3:21 PM
Sean Becketti, Freddie Mac's Chief Economist said that there is a tendency for housing and mortgage markets to focus on high profile but transitory ev...
Wed, Nov 16 2016, 3:11 PM
Builder confidence in the market for newly-built single-family homes was unchanged in November, based on data gathered before the election. The Nation...
Tue, Nov 15 2016, 11:51 AM
This is the second part of a summary of a Fannie Mae sponsored analysis by the Urban Institute (UI) of the role home equity could play in retirement s...
Tue, Nov 15 2016, 10:55 AM
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is estimating that the pace of new home sales slowed slightly in October compared to the previous month. Its Bu...
Tue, Nov 15 2016, 10:54 AM
Mortgage delinquencies are now the lowest they have been since the second quarter of 2006, some two years before the housing crisis began and other mo...
Tue, Nov 15 2016, 10:43 AM
For me this week and last includes time in Knoxville, Las Vegas, Portland, Northern California, Colorado, and Salt Lake City. The mood? Besides plenty...
Tue, Nov 15 2016, 10:03 AM
Big moves in bond markets always result in big conclusions from all manner of market participants. Whether it's Chief Strategist at some big bank, ...
Tue, Nov 15 2016, 7:22 PM
If you've ever had the misfortune of experiencing a sharp stick in your eye, then you have a great reference point for today's bond market movement. ...
Tue, Nov 15 2016, 4:37 PM
Mortgage rates were mixed today, depending on the lender. Those who raised rates yesterday afternoon were more likely to show small day-over-day impro...
Mon, Nov 14 2016, 10:14 AM
Time flies, this week we can expect the FHA Annual Report to be released with folks watching for that 2% capital level, and before you know it Thanksg...
Mon, Nov 14 2016, 9:27 AM
"Taper tantrum" refers to the market's reaction to the revelation that the Fed would begin reducing the pace of its asset purchases in mid-2013. For ...
Mon, Nov 14 2016, 7:53 PM
With Thursday marking a slightly less robust day of selling compared to Wednesday, it was all too tempting to hope that the bond market was just get...
Mon, Nov 14 2016, 5:18 PM
It's been a long time since anyone could say that top tier conventional conforming 30yr fixed mortgage rates were at 4% . Indeed, even last Monday, th...
Thu, Nov 10 2016, 10:43 AM
The BLS reports 5 of the 10 fastest growing jobs pay less than $25k per year . I wonder what percentage of real estate agents earn that? Realtors have...
Thu, Nov 10 2016, 10:30 AM
We talk about " momentum " a lot when it comes to bond market movement. I like reducing financial market concepts and reducing them to easy-to-unders...
Thu, Nov 10 2016, 6:26 PM
Mortgage Rates continued a relentless move higher today, as financial markets continue rapidly adjusting the price of new realities (more on that in a...
Thu, Nov 10 2016, 6:19 PM
In the Day Ahead, we discussed the concept of ' momentum ' in bond markets. I likened the current momentum situation to an unexpected running of the ...
Thu, Nov 10 2016, 2:37 PM
The affordability tug-of-war between home prices and interest rates continued in the third quarter, but the National Association of Home Builders (NAH...
Wed, Nov 9 2016, 10:56 AM
Friday is a day to honor veterans. Different people do that in different ways, and one way is for a restaurant chain to offer a free meal to those who...
Wed, Nov 9 2016, 10:22 AM
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) says that its seasonally adjusted Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage application volume, decreased 1...
Wed, Nov 9 2016, 5:37 PM
These are the sorts of things I think about sometimes when I'm coming up with a title for the recap. If you have enough of a stake in bond market mov...
Wed, Nov 9 2016, 4:38 PM
Mortgage Rates skyrocketed today, relative to their average range of movement. It was the single biggest move higher since the days of the taper tantr...
Wed, Nov 9 2016, 2:30 AM
This will be a brutally simple piece of analysis. If you'd like to see the same conclusions expressed in vastly more words, read almost anything I'...
Tue, Nov 8 2016, 10:02 AM
The foreclosure inventory was down nearly one-third in September when compared to a year earlier although the pace of completed foreclosures remained ...
Tue, Nov 8 2016, 9:53 AM
“It ain’t rocket surgery.” Trulia has a good piece out on the advantages of buying versus renting . Buying a home is 37% cheaper than renting national...
Tue, Nov 8 2016, 9:22 AM
This week's absence of relevant economic data seems to be by design. Markets may have chosen to focus on the election even if there had been importan...
Tue, Nov 8 2016, 5:14 PM
Market participants are HUNGRY for information on election day! While that comes as no surprise (indeed, traders always want to know what's going o...
Tue, Nov 8 2016, 3:46 PM
Mortgage Rates rose today as early presidential polls showed Clinton leading in several battleground states. At least when it comes to the most immedi...
Mon, Nov 7 2016, 11:55 AM
A change in conforming loan limits could have a big impact on mortgage originations and on homebuying in general according to Black Knight Financial S...
Mon, Nov 7 2016, 11:45 AM
How much does the roof over your head, today help ensure you will still have one in retirement? That is the question the Urban Institute (UI) is tryin...
Mon, Nov 7 2016, 10:46 AM
A loan officer walked up to me at a recent sales event and complained, “I’m spending more time promoting myself than I am being myself.” I replied, “I...
Mon, Nov 7 2016, 10:02 AM
In terms of scheduled economic data and events, this week is almost completely barren. In addition, Friday is Veteran's Day , and no matter what any...
Mon, Nov 7 2016, 5:28 PM
Today was perhaps the simplest trading session for bond markets in recent memory. There was one relevant piece of information and one meaningful mo...
Mon, Nov 7 2016, 4:55 PM
Mortgage Rates were unchanged today despite a fair amount of weakness in the bond market. Rates typically rise when bonds weaken. The absence of volat...
Mon, Nov 7 2016, 1:23 PM
Fannie Mae's Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI) suffered its third decline in as many months in October. The Index, based on responses to six key q...
Fri, Nov 4 2016, 10:40 AM
A trusted real estate agent could be a loan officer's best friend. A survey, commissioned by Freddie Mac in advance of the National Association of Rea...
Fri, Nov 4 2016, 10:22 AM
Are there any updates to tax information and/or documentation requirements? Yes, a handful. Stearns requires that all loans where tax returns are bein...
Fri, Nov 4 2016, 9:52 AM
Europe.
Above all else, the evolution of the European recovery-- especially as it relates to the various fiscal and monetary policy responses in t...
Fri, Nov 4 2016, 5:00 PM
I've seen today's jobs report referred to as both stronger and weaker in several ways. At worst, it was "mixed," and generally erred on the stronge...
Fri, Nov 4 2016, 4:28 PM
Mortgage Rates were slightly lower today--a counterintuitive move considering the big jobs report was slightly stronger that expected. To be clear, th...
Thu, Nov 3 2016, 12:38 PM
The two government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) reported improved financial results in the third quarter of 2016. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both said...
Thu, Nov 3 2016, 12:13 PM
Several positive factors contributed to a rise in the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA's) Mortgage Credit Availability Index in October. MBA's Vice...
