Tue, Jan 17 2017, 5:48 PM
In some regards, bonds had their best day of the year today. The outright gains weren't quite as big as Jan 5th or 9th, but closing yields were the...
Tue, Jan 17 2017, 4:53 PM
Mortgage rates moved lower today , generally recovering the losses seen last Friday. This brings many lenders back in line with the lowest levels sinc...
Fri, Jan 13 2017, 11:33 AM
The surprise reduction in FHA annual premiums announced last week by the current Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) may not survive long...
Fri, Jan 13 2017, 9:05 AM
The average person in the residential lending sector would be hard pressed to say what Julian Castro, the current Secretary of HUD, does , or what rol...
Fri, Jan 13 2017, 8:26 AM
Bond markets are beginning the day slightly stronger ahead of the week's only significant economic data. The 8:30am time slot brings Retail Sales (...
Fri, Jan 13 2017, 4:54 PM
Granted, we might wake up next Tuesday (markets are closed Monday) to find that bonds are quickly breaking out of the recent range. But as for this...
Fri, Jan 13 2017, 3:44 PM
Mortgage rates moved higher today , even after many lenders offered mid-day improvements in the afternoon. Bond markets (which underlie rate movement)...
Thu, Jan 12 2017, 9:40 AM
It ain't over 'til it's over, and that seems to be increasingly true of contacted home sales. Trulia reported on Wednesday that, "Deals to sell homes ...
Thu, Jan 12 2017, 9:32 AM
New home sales are projected to fall in December relative to November, not an unexpected pattern as the year-end holidays approach. The Mortgage Banke...
Thu, Jan 12 2017, 9:29 AM
Ever wondered how much Ben Carson is worth, where he puts his money, and how much money he earns? Here you go . His hearing is today for the HUD spot....
Thu, Jan 12 2017, 8:28 AM
As the new year continues, a common new year's theme is in full effect: the stock/bond correlation. Stocks and bonds frequently move together over ...
Thu, Jan 12 2017, 6:27 PM
In glancing at various trader/analyst/strategist emails, I see perhaps a greater diversity of opinions about today than of any other recent trading da...
Thu, Jan 12 2017, 5:33 PM
Mortgage rates were mixed today , depending on the lender. Discrepancies between lenders have been higher than normal over the last 24 hours for sever...
Wed, Jan 11 2017, 9:24 AM
While rumors swirl about the topic for the phone call with Stearns Lending’s correspondent-wide staff today (let’s hope its good news), Richard Cordra...
Wed, Jan 11 2017, 8:45 AM
To a significantly greater degree than yesterday's 3yr Treasury auction, today's 10yr auction will have the power to confirm a trend we were beginni...
Wed, Jan 11 2017, 8:22 AM
Mortgage applications continue to decompress from the two-week holiday moratorium as well as from the usual holiday business interruptions, so it is h...
Wed, Jan 11 2017, 5:09 PM
Today was one of the more complex trading days we've had recently. Three things were certainly in play and 2 of them were interdependent.
1. Stock...
Wed, Jan 11 2017, 3:57 PM
Mortgage rates fell today , in many cases to levels not seen in well over a month . The average lender was just a hair better than last Thursday, mean...
Tue, Jan 10 2017, 9:49 AM
It is a bi-annual bonanza of data for anyone in need of facts about housing in America and how people use it. The 2015 edition of the American Housing...
Tue, Jan 10 2017, 9:36 AM
Foreclosures are, at long last, approaching what CoreLogic says was the level in the pre-crisis environment . The company's November National Foreclos...
Tue, Jan 10 2017, 9:17 AM
What does $1.38 million, uh, I mean $138 thousand, buy you in South Dakota ? (Of course the heating bill is $3,000 a month...) Buying it may be a litt...
Tue, Jan 10 2017, 8:47 AM
One day down and 2 more to go without meaningful economic data. That didn't stop bonds from having a good day yesterday, but the gains were largely d...
Tue, Jan 10 2017, 5:27 PM
Today was about as tame as they come for bond markets, post-election. 10yr yields traded a high of 2.394 and a low of 2.361. That's a very narrow d...
Tue, Jan 10 2017, 4:32 PM
Mortgage rates were slightly higher today, but remain in much better shape overall when compared to the last month of 2016. In many ways, the new year...
Mon, Jan 9 2017, 11:24 AM
The annual premium paid by borrowers on mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is going down by a quarter of a percent. Housing ...
Mon, Jan 9 2017, 11:00 AM
In its current edition of the Mortgage Monitor , covering data from November 2016, Black Knight Financial Services looks at the changing landscape of ...
Mon, Jan 9 2017, 9:34 AM
Ah, here we are starting off a work week with 5 whole days in it. Remember that next Monday is a holiday for some, not all, with the usual questions a...
Mon, Jan 9 2017, 8:38 AM
NOTE: This paragraph will be at the top of the Day Ahead for a few weeks. Once you've read it, feel free to skip it. The Day Ahead has long been my ...
Mon, Jan 9 2017, 6:29 PM
It was almost a wholly uneventful day for bond markets. If not for the fact that trading levels improved day-over-day, there wouldn't be much to talk...
Mon, Jan 9 2017, 6:28 PM
Mortgage rates recovered much of Friday's losses today, moving back near the lowest levels in more than a month. To be fair, that's a claim they could...
Mon, Jan 9 2017, 3:08 PM
Consumer perceptions about rising interest rates and stagnant income levels were the main contributors to a half-point decrease in Fannie Mae's Home P...
Mon, Jan 9 2017, 2:52 PM
If you’re hoping to purchase a home soon, there are plenty of things to concentrate on. Your loan officer or realtor will probably give you a list of ...
Fri, Jan 6 2017, 9:43 AM
This month for me includes Texas (a few times), Maryland, Northern California, and Colorado (a few times). It can be cold out there! So far the mood s...
Fri, Jan 6 2017, 8:18 AM
NOTE: This paragraph will be at the top of the Day Ahead for a few weeks. Once you've read it, feel free to skip it. The Day Ahead has long been my ...
Fri, Jan 6 2017, 5:14 PM
NFP is the biggest piece of economic data on any given month--so big, in fact, that financial markets treat it as a focal point for trading activity ...
Fri, Jan 6 2017, 4:15 PM
Mortgage rates moved moderately higher today after the Employment Situation Report (aka "the jobs report" or simply "NFP," after its trademark compone...
Thu, Jan 5 2017, 9:54 AM
Access to credit continued to inch up last month according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA's) Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI). Th...
Thu, Jan 5 2017, 9:51 AM
This morning we’ve had the Challenger layoff data and the usual Thursday’s weekly Initial Jobless Claims (and its 4-week moving average). Things aren’...
Thu, Jan 5 2017, 8:35 AM
NOTE: This paragraph will be at the top of the Day Ahead for a few weeks. Once you've read it, feel free to skip it. The Day Ahead has long been my ...
Thu, Jan 5 2017, 5:08 PM
By quite a wide margin, today was the best day for bond markets since the election. 10yr yields dropped nearly 10bps, making it all the way to the ...
Thu, Jan 5 2017, 4:08 PM
It's Thursday and thus time, once again, for the weekly mortgage rate survey from Freddie Mac. Over time and in the bigger picture, Freddie's survey i...
Wed, Jan 4 2017, 11:43 AM
We often hear that there is no such thing as a perfect crime. Perhaps that is why there is always a fraudster trying to improve them. CoreLogic says t...
Wed, Jan 4 2017, 9:19 AM
Any LO looking for opportunity should look no further than this statistic: there were 189,100 multifamily rental units completed between the fourth qu...
Wed, Jan 4 2017, 9:11 AM
The Mortgage Bankers Association returned from its holiday hiatus today, issuing its first update on mortgage applications' activity since that for th...
Wed, Jan 4 2017, 8:52 AM
NOTE: This paragraph will be at the top of the Day Ahead for a few weeks. Once you've read it, feel free to skip it. The Day Ahead has long been my ...
Wed, Jan 4 2017, 5:03 PM
Bonds focused on technicals, range-trading, corporate supply, and the FOMC Minutes today. It all added up to almost no net change across the board, s...
Wed, Jan 4 2017, 4:13 PM
Mortgage rates were slightly higher today, on average, but some lenders were unchanged from yesterday. Others were quoting higher rates in the morning...
Tue, Jan 3 2017, 10:58 AM
Perhaps construction spending is finally emerging from the doldrums where it has lingered for months. For the second month in a row the Census Bureau ...
Tue, Jan 3 2017, 9:40 AM
For the sixth consecutive month , the CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI) increased on an annual basis by a greater degree than it had in the previous mo...
Tue, Jan 3 2017, 9:34 AM
(Yes, a paragraph of pure fluff to start the year.) Does anyone handwrite checks anymore? Always a struggle to remember “2017” instead of “2016.” And ...
