Tue, Aug 11 2015, 3:40 PM
There was an uptick in national existing home sales in the
second quarter of 2015 of 6.6 percent the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) said on ...
Tue, Aug 11 2015, 3:37 PM
Credit unions are gaining a greater
share of the market for both home mortgages and auto loans according to a new
study just released by TransUnio...
Mon, Aug 10 2015, 10:26 AM
I
am currently in the Pacific Daylight Time zone for the Mortgage
Collaborative conference near San Diego. Do time zones ever make the
headlines...
Mon, Aug 10 2015, 8:21 AM
There's no question that things have been going well for bond markets recently--at least for the parts of the bond markets that we care about. The lo...
Mon, Aug 10 2015, 5:39 PM
Mortgage rates moved slightly higher today, erasing the modest improvements seen on Friday. There wasn't much movement in the secondary mortgage ...
Mon, Aug 10 2015, 5:37 PM
Today's first significant source of inspiration for bond markets came in the form of comments from Fed Vice Chair Fischer. While he stuck to the same...
Mon, Aug 10 2015, 4:33 PM
The drought and raging wildfires appear not to be dampening the enthusiasm of people who wish to live in
California. CoreLogic reports that the
s...
Mon, Aug 10 2015, 1:08 PM
Today has been all about yield curve steepening . That means that longer-lasting bonds have been doing worse than shorter term bonds. For instance,...
Fri, Aug 7 2015, 11:32 AM
Yesterday
I attended the California Association of Mortgage Professionals
conference in Southern California, and was talking to a buddy who works ...
Fri, Aug 7 2015, 8:06 PM
Negativity was pervasive in the results of Fannie Mae's July
National Housing Survey (NHS).
Respondents indicated falling expectations about the ec...
Fri, Aug 7 2015, 7:33 AM
NFP day is fun. It's one of those days where things can change so much and so quickly in its immediate wake, that it really doesn't make much sense ...
Fri, Aug 7 2015, 7:25 PM
Mortgage rates were surprisingly calm today , especially in light of the fact that the big jobs report was released this morning. This report has ...
Fri, Aug 7 2015, 6:49 PM
Today's almost perfectly flat (vs last month and expectations) NFP provided a perfect opportunity to see what markets had been afraid of and/or hopefu...
Fri, Aug 7 2015, 3:21 PM
Over a year ago consumers pointed out, in a report from the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) the "pain points" they encountered in
the mo...
Fri, Aug 7 2015, 3:07 PM
There are two conflicting theories on how or even if
monetary policy should play a role in stabilizing asset price booms and
busts. If central bank...
Thu, Aug 6 2015, 11:34 AM
Since early 2014 the Federal Reserve has
held out two goals that must be achieved before it raises the Federal Funds
rate, "maximum employment and i...
Thu, Aug 6 2015, 11:28 AM
Sales of lender-owned real estate (REO) in May represented
the smallest share of home sales in nine years.
CoreLogic said that the overall share ...
Thu, Aug 6 2015, 11:22 AM
Credit availability increased in July, resuming an almost
continuous rise that started last fall.
The Mortgage Bankers Association said its Mortg...
Thu, Aug 6 2015, 11:16 AM
Housing discrimination can come in many forms - but based on who your friends are? Thank you to Thomas Michel who sent along this story about how Fa...
Thu, Aug 6 2015, 10:52 AM
We expected to see some sort of consolidation of the late July bond rally this week. That's a fancy way of saying that markets would probably level-...
Thu, Aug 6 2015, 9:39 PM
It was quite a nice pre-NFP Thursday for bond markets. Trading was uneventful in our favorite sort of way where the gains begin early and losses ne...
Thu, Aug 6 2015, 8:01 PM
Mortgage rates made up some of their recently lost ground today, moving slightly lower in concert with falling stock prices. Bonds (which include...
Thu, Aug 6 2015, 7:33 AM
The Wednesday before NFP always has at least the ADP numbers to provide volatility potential. It also frequently has ISM Services data as was the cas...
Wed, Aug 5 2015, 12:43 PM
Redfin, a multi-state real estate firm based in Seattle, says
it is seeing "signs of an enduring slowdown" in the housing market. This isn't neces...
Wed, Aug 5 2015, 11:40 AM
It looks like the nail is in the coffin for the pre-NFP rally potential. There was some small chance today (emphasis on 'small') that economic data...
Wed, Aug 5 2015, 11:26 AM
Demand
for a wide range of consumer and commercial loans increased in the
second quarter, according to a Federal Reserve survey of senior loan
o...
Wed, Aug 5 2015, 9:32 AM
Last week was the best
one for mortgage applications in quite some time in terms of percent gains versus the previous week (outright index levels rem...
Wed, Aug 5 2015, 7:33 AM
To be fair to the Wednesdays before NFP, sometimes they get serious and sometimes they don't. As always, the determining factor is whether there is e...
Wed, Aug 5 2015, 6:21 PM
Mortgage rates continued their retreat from recent lows for a 2nd straight day after this morning's data suggested the service sector was at its s...
Wed, Aug 5 2015, 6:21 PM
Yesterday afternoon's weak momentum (inspired by comments from Fed's Lockhart) carried over into the overnight session. Additional losses were contai...
Wed, Aug 5 2015, 4:50 PM
Saying that consumers should not be billed unnecessarily for
private mortgage insurance (PMI) the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has
issued ...
Tue, Aug 4 2015, 11:41 AM
It's common to see a pre-NFP consolidation in bond markets. This refers mainly to the Monday and Tuesday of NFP week, especially if the Monday is NOT...
Tue, Aug 4 2015, 10:52 AM
The numbers of homes for sale in a few areas of the country
have now dropped below a two month supply CoreLogic said today. Prices in cities with th...
Tue, Aug 4 2015, 10:35 AM
Regina Lowrie from RML Advisors
answers the question, "How should we handle the title insurance
companies, escrow companies and closing attorney...
Tue, Aug 4 2015, 7:33 AM
Come Wednesday, we will have entered the final approach to Friday morning's NFP release as ADP and ISM Non-Manufacturing data are likely to set the to...
Tue, Aug 4 2015, 7:26 PM
After hitting the best levels in just over 2 months yesterday, mortgage rates bounced moderately higher today. The move brings them back above ...
Tue, Aug 4 2015, 7:24 PM
Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart is a pragmatic and reasonable member of the FOMC. He doesn't consistently grind an axe in the same way that sev...
Tue, Aug 4 2015, 1:59 PM
Returning to economic normalcy apparently means that
Americans are back into heavy-debt mode .
Black Knight Financial Services said today that lev...
Mon, Aug 3 2015, 12:44 PM
There's that phrase again: "global growth concerns" --that ridiculously broad concept that speaks to all of the more negative "what ifs" surrounding ...
Mon, Aug 3 2015, 10:17 AM
A
big topic at last week's MBA Hawaii annual conference was change in
the industry. As if residential lending doesn't have enough changes all
th...
Mon, Aug 3 2015, 7:33 AM
At times like this in bond market history, the collective psychology is akin to the cliche ne'er-do-well from a book or movie who has finally come i...
Mon, Aug 3 2015, 6:08 PM
Mortgage rates continued lower today , adding to an already impressive streak of improvement that began in mid-July. Much of that improvement has ...
Mon, Aug 3 2015, 6:02 PM
There were a few good years in the middle of the financial crisis recovery where inflation data just didn't matter. Various economic reports could in...
Mon, Aug 3 2015, 3:04 PM
Even though he has retired, don't you sometimes just want to
smack David Letterman? The popularity of
his Top 10 something or other lists have made...
Mon, Aug 3 2015, 1:38 PM
Public monies shored up construction spending figures in
June, just barely making up for a drop in expenditures from the private
sector. The U.S. C...
Fri, Jul 31 2015, 12:28 PM
Today's market mover came out of left field, and in a big way. The Employment Cost Index is typically a non-event, having only moved markets noticeab...
Fri, Jul 31 2015, 10:20 AM
A
rare blue moon (two full moons appearing in the same calendar month)
will be visible in the sky today for the first time in three years. We
wo...
Fri, Jul 31 2015, 9:02 PM
Get out your calendar. Flip, swipe, or glance back at May 29th. That's where we have to go to see mortgage rates any lower than they are today....
Fri, Jul 31 2015, 8:58 PM
This morning's Employment Cost Index came out of left field with sobering news for anyone counting on a 2015 Fed Rate hike. Fed Fund Futures (which m...
Fri, Jul 31 2015, 7:33 AM
Yesterday's recap mentioned a 'farewell' to low short term rates despite longer term rates 'faring well.' This is a reference to the major changes th...
