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 ...
Tue, Jan 3 2017, 8:42 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 ...
Tue, Jan 3 2017, 5:37 PM
Bonds began the new year on the defensive thanks to a deluge of corporate bond issuance as well as stronger ISM Manufacturing data. By 10:15am, 10y...
Tue, Jan 3 2017, 4:52 PM
Mortgage rates improved slightly to begin 2017, bringing them to the lowest levels in nearly a month, on average. December 8th was the last time rates...
Fri, Dec 30 2016, 12:27 PM
Mortgage rates moved lower for a 3rd consecutive day to end 2016, bringing them to the lowest levels in more than 3 weeks for many lenders. December 8...
Fri, Dec 30 2016, 9:15 AM
Overheard: “I have a feeling that my ‘check liver’ light may come on this weekend.” I guess drinking helps some people forget, and it’s been a rough w...
Fri, Dec 30 2016, 8:57 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, Dec 29 2016, 9:32 AM
When Freddie Mac introduced its Multi-Indicator Market Index (MiMi) in March 2014 only 11 of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia were deemed s...
Thu, Dec 29 2016, 9:09 AM
New Residential Investment Corp. (NYSE: NRZ) announced it has entered into an agreement, through its wholly-owned subsidiary New Residential Mortgage ...
Thu, Dec 29 2016, 8:30 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, Dec 29 2016, 4:33 PM
Bonds made solid gains again today, both before and after another strong Treasury auction. Fannie 3.5s picked up more than a quarter of a point and 1...
Thu, Dec 29 2016, 3:57 PM
Mortgage rates moved lower today , somewhat significantly, depending on the lender. In many cases, quotes are an eighth of a point lower compared to T...
Wed, Dec 28 2016, 10:46 AM
Pending sales, which were widely expected to make a good showing in November, pulled back sharply instead. The National Association of Realtors® (NAR)...
Wed, Dec 28 2016, 10:36 AM
In an earlier article we summarized the first part of a report by Urban Institute's Housing Finance Policy Center, Senior Fellow Jim Parrott about the...
Wed, Dec 28 2016, 10:31 AM
"I like to party. And by 'party' I mean take a nap." Lots of folks are taking naps this week, but those on the production side of residential lending ...
Wed, Dec 28 2016, 8:40 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, Dec 28 2016, 5:11 PM
Today was all about the afternoon's 5yr Treasury note auction, which garnered the best demand in more than 2 years and the highest percentage of indir...
Wed, Dec 28 2016, 3:50 PM
Mortgage rates moved lower today following back-to-back afternoons of improvements in underlying bond markets. Yesterday afternoon was only slightly s...
Tue, Dec 27 2016, 10:28 AM
Price gains in October once again accelerated on an annual basis. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Index, which covers all nine U.S. census div...
Tue, Dec 27 2016, 9:08 AM
How has it been ten years since James Brown passed away? And now George Michael. (I guess no matter how much money you have, or how famous you are...)...
Tue, Dec 27 2016, 8:43 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 ...
Tue, Dec 27 2016, 3:39 PM
As far as full business days go (those that aren't "early close"), today was by far and away the slowest day of the year for bond markets. In fact,...
Tue, Dec 27 2016, 3:07 PM
Mortgage rates moved higher today, bringing them back into the range that's dominated the second half of the month. That means the average lender is f...
Tue, Dec 27 2016, 2:21 PM
While securitization of auto loans is about 16 percent higher than it was in 2001 and agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS) are up over 50 percent, ...
Tue, Dec 27 2016, 2:17 PM
Black Knight Financial Services wrapped up the October series of national home price reports with its Home Price Index (HPI). It contained numbers nea...
Fri, Dec 23 2016, 11:10 AM
There was a slight uptick in a couple of housing distress measures in November, but the general trend continues down. Still, as Black Knight Financial...
Fri, Dec 23 2016, 10:52 AM
New home sales continued their recent pattern of advancing and retreating in alternate months. The Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban D...
Fri, Dec 23 2016, 10:37 AM
We’ve passed the Winter Solstice, and we can look forward to more daylight in the Northern Hemisphere from here on out. (Good news for readers in Fair...
Fri, Dec 23 2016, 8:48 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, Dec 23 2016, 2:02 PM
Mortgage rates made their biggest move of the week today, although the competition wasn't very stiff, considering yesterday's microscopic improvement ...
Fri, Dec 23 2016, 1:40 PM
As expected, bonds did nothing today , apart from a possibly detectable response to the inflation-expectation components of the Consumer Sentiment da...
Thu, Dec 22 2016, 12:52 PM
This year, with less than two weeks left to go, is shaping up to be the best year for housing in a decade according to Freddie Mac's Economic & Housin...
Thu, Dec 22 2016, 10:13 AM
The share of cash sales appears to be holding fairly steady , even as investors pull back from the residential market (NAR put the investor share of s...
Thu, Dec 22 2016, 9:59 AM
Price increases moderated slightly in October according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA's) Housing Price Index (HPI). The national index...
Thu, Dec 22 2016, 9:50 AM
Refinancing originations remained unchanged at 47 percent of all closed loans in November, not yet reflecting the sharp increase in interest rates tha...
Thu, Dec 22 2016, 9:37 AM
“Hospitality is the art of making guests feel like they're at home when you wish they were.” (Read that again – it’s pretty clever.) Millions of white...
Thu, Dec 22 2016, 8:24 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 ...