Fri, Oct 21 2016, 10:40 AM
Housing industry players have decried the absence of first-time homebuyers and the negative impact they have had on the housing recovery. Fannie Mae's...
Fri, Oct 21 2016, 10:11 AM
As thousands of folks prepare to head to Boston for the MBA’s conference, they may be asking, “What’s in my wallet?” Maybe a little less. The average ...
Fri, Oct 21 2016, 10:04 AM
As can be seen in this morning's chart (and remembered in the hearts and minds of loan originators who closely follow market movements), October has b...
Fri, Oct 21 2016, 4:38 PM
Bonds began the day roughly unchanged and rallied in the morning hours along with European bond markets. Most of the volume was in before 9:45 and th...
Fri, Oct 21 2016, 3:23 PM
Mortgage Rates held steady today, continuing a much-needed break from the move higher that dominated the first 2 weeks of October. While we've only se...
Thu, Oct 20 2016, 12:55 PM
There is an old saying that they don't build things like they used to, but it seems that houses at least are still built to last . The National Associ...
Thu, Oct 20 2016, 10:55 AM
There is a lot of upbeat news in the September existing home sales report released by the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) on Thursday. Sales r...
Thu, Oct 20 2016, 10:13 AM
Flying to Boston for the MBA’s conference? Here’s a view you won't see. But probably a more important question is, "Is your cyber secure?" The FFIEC j...
Thu, Oct 20 2016, 9:59 AM
The Fed is the ECB President Mario Draghi's childhood hero (with 'childhood' being a metaphorical term for the infancy of the ECB's response to the 20...
Thu, Oct 20 2016, 4:44 PM
Today was pretty anticlimactic . Most of my analysis is already available in the Day Ahead. If you're not the link-clicking type, it basically says...
Thu, Oct 20 2016, 3:59 PM
Mortgage Rates were lower again today, after the European Central Bank (ECB) avoided sending any scary signals about tapering its asset purchases. Muc...
Thu, Oct 20 2016, 1:00 PM
Refinancing continued to hold its ground during September, rising from 43 percent of all loan originations in August to 45 percent. Ellie Mae's Origin...
Wed, Oct 19 2016, 10:35 AM
The management teams at residential lenders across the nation have begun forecasting for 2017. Of course no one wants to tell their boss that they exp...
Wed, Oct 19 2016, 10:16 AM
Permits for construction of residential housing improved in September after several dismal months, but housing starts retreated from both August and y...
Wed, Oct 19 2016, 9:45 AM
After worldwide rates hit all-time lows on the heels of Brexit, they consolidated in a narrow, sideways pattern until someone came up with the next pl...
Wed, Oct 19 2016, 8:48 AM
The week ended October 14 was a quiet one for mortgage applications. The week started with one of those holidays, Columbus Day, that are only partiall...
Wed, Oct 19 2016, 4:56 PM
Bond markets spent yet another day consolidating inside their recent range. In terms of 10yr yields that means rates have fallen from last Friday's h...
Wed, Oct 19 2016, 3:01 PM
Mortgage Rates were steady to slightly lower today, which keeps them fairly close to 4-month highs. 3.625% continues to be the most prevalently-quoted...
Wed, Oct 19 2016, 2:46 PM
This month CoreLogic has combined their cash sales and distressed sales data into a single report rather than the two they have issued each month sinc...
Wed, Oct 19 2016, 2:38 PM
Fannie Mae says it expect economic growth will improve on its anemic performance in the first half of 2016 in the second half of the year, rising to 2...
Tue, Oct 18 2016, 10:48 AM
The Housing Market Index (HMI), a measure of home builder confidence in the new home market, gave back a bit of its September surge this month. The Na...
Tue, Oct 18 2016, 10:07 AM
Stephen Covey said, “The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities." Catchy. Speaking of schedules, my cat Myr...
Tue, Oct 18 2016, 9:47 AM
As we approach Thursday's European Central Bank (ECB) announcement and press conference, we are seeing a clearer display of underlying market motivat...
Tue, Oct 18 2016, 5:19 PM
If you've been following along with updates on MBS Live , today's recap will be old hat. Long story short, bonds have been selling off in October an...
Tue, Oct 18 2016, 4:23 PM
Mortgage Rates moved slightly lower today, depending on the lender. During the morning hours, rates were roughly unchanged and thus remained in line w...
Mon, Oct 17 2016, 10:19 AM
Americans are staying put, both in their homes and in their jobs. The two appear to be related but which is the driving force? In a recent Urban Insti...
Mon, Oct 17 2016, 10:04 AM
If you are a residential lender and volume in the 3rd quarter was up about 10% over the 2nd quarter, you’re right in line. Industry sources, including...
Mon, Oct 17 2016, 9:43 AM
The European Central Bank (ECB) has been one of the driving forces behind ultra-low rates around the world for several years, thanks to an aggressive...
Mon, Oct 17 2016, 5:33 PM
It could be a volatile week for bond markets, and that volatility could kick the ongoing negative trend into higher gear. It would have taken quite ...
Mon, Oct 17 2016, 4:36 PM
Mortgage Rates remained near 4-month highs today, despite moderate improvement in underlying bond markets. The problem for most lenders was the timing...
Fri, Oct 14 2016, 12:53 PM
Sales of newly constructed homes ticked up 7 percent in September when compared on a non-seasonally adjusted basis to August according to the Mortgage...
Fri, Oct 14 2016, 10:49 AM
We’ll be following the big bank earnings today and next week, and those banks know a thing or two about personnel changes. Research by the Society for...
Fri, Oct 14 2016, 10:01 AM
Never forget, even in a perpetual long-term downtrend--even in a downtrend with more room to run in the bigger picture--there will be corrections towa...
Fri, Oct 14 2016, 5:52 PM
Ahhh, the good old mystery move! There are so many potential contributors to this afternoon's sharp sell-off in bonds that it scarcely makes sense to...
Fri, Oct 14 2016, 4:46 PM
Mortgage Rates remained under pressure today, moving right back to the highest levels in more than 4 months after only one day of recovery. This might...
Thu, Oct 13 2016, 9:53 AM
Earthquakes may just be the Rodney Dangerfield of natural disasters. They get no respect relative to most other natural disasters--likely due to the i...
Thu, Oct 13 2016, 9:43 AM
For all you mortgage execs in your 60s and 70s, who want to feel young again, you should join the YMPA: Young Mortgage Professionals Association . Nop...
Thu, Oct 13 2016, 9:12 AM
Even though yields have made new intraday highs on 9 out of the last 9 days, we may have seen some early clues about the selling trend leveling-off....
Thu, Oct 13 2016, 5:04 PM
Corrections and consolidations are a natural part of market movements. It's uncommon for losing streaks to last more than 8 straight days without rep...
Thu, Oct 13 2016, 4:13 PM
Mortgage Rates managed to make modest gains today, moving just slightly lower for the average lender. That's a welcome development after 10 straight d...
Wed, Oct 12 2016, 9:51 AM
“This is a case about executive power and individual liberty. The U.S. Government’s executive power to enforce federal law against private citizens…is...
Wed, Oct 12 2016, 9:17 AM
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported that mortgage applications were down significantly during the week ended October 7, probably respondin...
Wed, Oct 12 2016, 9:12 AM
Today brings the release of the MINUTES from the most recent FOMC meeting. This is distinct event from the ANNOUNCEMENT that happened about 3 weeks...
Wed, Oct 12 2016, 5:28 PM
No one was really sure what the Fed Minutes possibly could have said to surprise markets, but that didn't stop traders from pricing-in a bit of defe...
Wed, Oct 12 2016, 4:33 PM
In and of itself, today wasn't too bad of a day. Mortgage Rates were only slightly higher, and were generally unfazed by the release of the Minutes fr...
Wed, Oct 12 2016, 1:31 PM
Anyone who has been paying attention must know that the national homeownership rate, which has been dropping for over a decade , is now at a 50-year l...
Wed, Oct 12 2016, 1:17 PM
A federal appeals court has set aside a massive fine against mortgage lender PHH Corporation and declared that the Consumer Financial Protection Burea...
Tue, Oct 11 2016, 9:57 AM
Fannie Mae acknowledged last week that their form of Acknowledgement Agreement with lenders is " overly complicated and full of dense legal language" ...
Tue, Oct 11 2016, 9:49 AM
As they have following other natural disasters, both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have announced that their "full menu of disaster relief policies" will...
Tue, Oct 11 2016, 9:43 AM
CoreLogic reported on Tuesday that all major indicators of housing distress declined by double digits over the last year. The company's August Nationa...