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...
Fri, Jun 9 2017, 9:02 AM
All of our high-risk events for this week have come and gone, and bond markets aren't able to justify the stronger "lead-off" levels that marked the p...
Fri, Jun 9 2017, 8:38 AM
While the attention of much of the country was focused elsewhere on Thursday, the House of Representatives passed the H.R. 10, the Financial Choice Ac...
Thu, Jun 8 2017, 4:55 PM
Perhaps it had to do with yesterday's 1st round of Senate testimony or Comey's prepared remarks giving bond markets an unfriendly bump, but bonds ende...
Thu, Jun 8 2017, 3:09 PM
Mortgage rates rose modestly today after spending 2 days at the best levels in nearly 8 months. Financial markets were tuned in to several key events ...
Thu, Jun 8 2017, 9:36 AM
Home flipping, the practice of buying and then reselling the same property within a 12-month period, fell to the lowest level in two years during the ...
Thu, Jun 8 2017, 9:34 AM
The Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index® (HPSI) decreased fractionally in May, however the change in each of its internal components was decidedl...
Thu, Jun 8 2017, 9:26 AM
No one has a crystal ball, but CNBC makes the point that, as a nation, home prices won't fully recover until 2025 , and that "price gains during the l...
Thu, Jun 8 2017, 9:02 AM
A few days ago, I laid out a bullish long-term case for bond markets. I could probably do something similar for a bearish case, but when it comes to ...
Wed, Jun 7 2017, 4:57 PM
Bond markets were only modestly weaker in the overnight session (unlike yesterday where a majority of the day's weakness was seen overnight), but bega...
Wed, Jun 7 2017, 4:01 PM
Mortgage rates managed to hold in line with 2017's lowest levels for a 2nd day, even though underlying bond markets suggested a move higher . That mea...
Wed, Jun 7 2017, 9:59 AM
Summer is here, school is out for many, and it’s time for vacation, right? Here’s a little trivia for your co-workers. What is number of available vac...
Wed, Jun 7 2017, 9:24 AM
Independent mortgage banks and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered banks reported a second straight quarter of falling profits during the three months ...
Wed, Jun 7 2017, 9:19 AM
One never knows what to expect on the relatively data-free day ahead of a minefield of potential market movers 24 hours later. To be clear, we're tal...
Wed, Jun 7 2017, 8:34 AM
Mortgage application volume rose during the week ended June 2, increasing by 7.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis. The Mortgage Bankers Associat...
Tue, Jun 6 2017, 7:05 PM
After yesterday's modest bond market weakness, we may well have assumed that traders were in their preferred positions ahead of Thursday's big-ticket ...
Tue, Jun 6 2017, 4:20 PM
Mortgage rates unexpectedly fell to new 7-month lows today, following bond market gains in the overnight hours (Asian and European trading sessions). ...
Tue, Jun 6 2017, 9:49 AM
June is National Homeownership Month and the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) says that owning a home is as much a part of the American Dr...
Tue, Jun 6 2017, 9:47 AM
Home price increases moderated slightly in April, at least as measured by the CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI). The company announced an increase of 6...
Tue, Jun 6 2017, 9:40 AM
I received this note/suggestion regarding broker business. " Is California dysfunctional? In California, brokers are typically regulated by the BRE , ...
Tue, Jun 6 2017, 9:28 AM
There are no significant data or events on the calendar today and the Fed remains in its "blackout period" (where Fed speakers abstain from commenting...
Mon, Jun 5 2017, 6:03 PM
ISM Non-Manufacturing was this morning's biggest potential market mover, but it came in very close to consensus. Moreover, its internal components ...
Mon, Jun 5 2017, 5:01 PM
Mortgage rates were modestly higher today after hitting the lowest levels since early November at the end of last week. Along with mid-April, this is ...
Mon, Jun 5 2017, 11:07 AM
It should come as no surprise that the rise in interest rates that occurred after the November 2016 election had a profound impact on mortgage origina...
Mon, Jun 5 2017, 9:10 AM
There are two white lines in today's chart. Each represents the pace of the two most recent rallies in rates (with the latter being the current rally...
