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...
Thu, Nov 3 2016, 10:03 AM
With residential applications at a 5-month industry low, it’s time for a pun. "How much does it cost to buy sixty female pigs and forty male deer? One...
Thu, Nov 3 2016, 9:53 AM
There can be no doubt that bond markets are responding to recent political headlines. But there's even less of a doubt that stock markets are far mor...
Thu, Nov 3 2016, 4:57 PM
Thank the overnight trading session for an anticlimactic day. It set a healthy range of highs and lows that daytime trading never managed to break....
Thu, Nov 3 2016, 4:03 PM
Mortgage Rates were slightly higher today, keeping them in line with the weakest levels in just over 5 months. "Weakness" is relative, however. Apart ...
Wed, Nov 2 2016, 10:14 AM
It's a global mortgage market, and this news tidbit caught my eye - reminding us that "a rising tide floats all boats." Virgin Money's Q3 IMS shows co...
Wed, Nov 2 2016, 9:26 AM
Let's not get too excited, but bonds have begun an attempt to bounce at the higher side of their multi-month trend channel (the "uptrend" leading to...
Wed, Nov 2 2016, 8:22 AM
Mortgage applications dropped to their lowest levels since last spring during the week ended October 28. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said i...
Wed, Nov 2 2016, 5:25 PM
Taken in and of itself, today's Fed statement was "net-hawkish." That means, relative to the last announcement, the verbiage took small but noticea...
Wed, Nov 2 2016, 4:37 PM
Mortgage Rates eased just a bit more today, marking the 4th day of relative stability after a sharp rise last Thursday. Although there was a Fed annou...
Wed, Nov 2 2016, 4:36 PM
Construction spending continued to be lukewarm in September, lagging behind both September 2015 and August 2016. Multi-family construction was among t...
Wed, Nov 2 2016, 2:01 PM
(additions underlined, deletions struck-through)
For immediate release
Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in July...
Tue, Nov 1 2016, 10:16 AM
The first of the September home price indices came out on Tuesday, and the CoreLogic Home Price Index (HPI) showed price gains, while not slowing, are...
Tue, Nov 1 2016, 10:03 AM
Who is 29-year old Pete Kostelnick? No, he’s not the cute new AE covering your region. Pete just set a world record for fastest run across America: 3,...
Tue, Nov 1 2016, 9:54 AM
The Summer months sure were great for bond markets, weren't they? Massive rally in June, all-time low yields in July, and reasonable stability just o...
Tue, Nov 1 2016, 5:40 PM
The political theater is ramping up quickly, with unexpected afternoon twitter headlines stealing the show from longstanding market movers like ISM ...
Tue, Nov 1 2016, 4:44 PM
Mortgage Rates continue to operate near 5-month highs , after putting in a mixed performance today. The morning was especially bad as stronger global ...
Mon, Oct 31 2016, 10:29 AM
The fourth and last of the August home price estimates is in and none of them show any slowing of appreciation. Among peers, Black Knight Financial Se...
