Fri, Jun 26 2015, 7:33 AM
With bond markets unable to break back into May's trading range last week and now unable to break into last week's range this week, things aren't l...
Fri, Jun 26 2015, 5:22 PM
Mortgage rates were already hovering near 2015 highs as of yesterday. Today's spike sent them easily above the previous annual high , set on Ju...
Fri, Jun 26 2015, 5:13 PM
Paradoxically, US bond markets sold off (read: rates went higher) much more sharply than European bond markets today. That will certainly make no sen...
Fri, Jun 26 2015, 4:43 PM
Another measure of returning normalcy
came on Thursday with a report from the Office of Comptroller of the Currency
(OCC) on mortgage loan performan...
Thu, Jun 25 2015, 12:26 PM
At present, we mustn't try to force rate movement into historically reliable cause-and-effect equations. All we know is the answer and several of t...
Thu, Jun 25 2015, 10:30 AM
Aside
from a few memorable blips, rates have basically trended down in the
United States since 1982 until a year or two ago. What else has been
...
Thu, Jun 25 2015, 7:33 AM
I realize that by including Greece in a headline that I'm not really helping the issue that I'm about to complain about (again), but perhaps the headl...
Thu, Jun 25 2015, 5:56 PM
Mortgage rates remained near recent highs for
a 2nd straight day after rising quickly on the first two days of the
week. With the exceptio...
Thu, Jun 25 2015, 5:45 PM
Bond markets moved back toward the higher end of their recent yield range today--and indeed, the highest pivot point in 2015. 10yr yields have only b...
Thu, Jun 25 2015, 3:48 PM
Even as homeownership rates remain at
historic lows the mortgage debt on single family homes is increasing, ending
seven years of decline. Freddie ...
Thu, Jun 25 2015, 3:18 PM
It was buried by the release of the Supreme Court's decision
upholding a portion of the Affordable Health Care Act, but the Court today also upheld
...
Wed, Jun 24 2015, 12:55 PM
For all intents and purposes, only 2 things have happened for bond markets this week. Yields rose quickly on Monday and have moved sideways since the...
Wed, Jun 24 2015, 8:57 AM
Mortgage applications, which posted eight declines in the last nine weeks,
recovered a bit during the week ended June 19.
The Mortgage Bankers As...
Wed, Jun 24 2015, 7:33 AM
We can talk about minutia or we can talk about the big picture . Minute details vary as far as their suggested impact on bond market momentum. In...
Wed, Jun 24 2015, 5:54 PM
It was a fairly boring day for bond markets both at home and abroad. This, despite headlines surrounding the Greek debt situation that seemingly sugg...
Wed, Jun 24 2015, 5:17 PM
Mortgage rates barely budged in most cases today. Some lenders were just slightly better. Others were worse. The average rate quote is unchang...
Wed, Jun 24 2015, 3:42 PM
Free
DU? You bet - Fannie couldn't let Freddie offer LP at no charge and not
respond. "Beginning June 1, Fannie Mae will align DU and Desktop
Or...
Wed, Jun 24 2015, 1:38 PM
There was a general increase in foreclosure activity in May
according to Black Knight Financial Services.
Its "First Look" at data that will be f...
Wed, Jun 24 2015, 1:37 PM
Freddie Mac said on Wednesday that it
Multi-Indicator Market Index (MiMi) shows that the U.S. housing market is
continuing to stabilize and those ...
Tue, Jun 23 2015, 12:03 PM
The good news in housing continued this morning with a
report on May new home sales. According
to the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing a...
Tue, Jun 23 2015, 10:31 AM
Prices across the U.S. rose 0.3 percent on a seasonally
adjusted basis in April compared to March the Federal Housing Finance Agency
(FHFA) said t...
Tue, Jun 23 2015, 10:28 AM
History
lesson anyone? In the spring of 1861 the state convention in Richmond,
Virginia declared secession. Nearly all delegates from counties wes...
Tue, Jun 23 2015, 8:29 PM
Bond markets continued pushing back toward recent long-term high yields today, and without any overt motivation. The overnight session saw European b...
Tue, Jun 23 2015, 7:33 AM
When I think back to 2012--the last time that global financial markets were battling back from European systemic risk drama--I remember feeling less a...
Tue, Jun 23 2015, 4:24 PM
Mortgage rates , true to recent form, can't catch a break . Just when we think we might be seeing a glimmer of hope, we're treated to several days...
Tue, Jun 23 2015, 1:13 PM
The overnight hours were unkind to Treasuries, and paradoxically so. Although European yields did begin the day moderately higher, they quickly fell ...
Mon, Jun 22 2015, 12:24 PM
As expected, this week is already seeing a surge in deal-making headlines surrounding Greece . Depending on which headline you like, you mike be con...
Mon, Jun 22 2015, 11:07 AM
Maybe this time it is for real - the recovery
of the housing market that is. Coming on
top of excellent residential construction news last week t...
Mon, Jun 22 2015, 9:46 AM
Hopefully
all the dads out there had fun Sunday. The U.S. Census Bureau tells us
in 2008 there were 70.1 million fathers in the U.S. and in 2014 2...
Mon, Jun 22 2015, 7:33 AM
Since at least 2010, European and US markets/economies have been trading blows in the fight to control market momentum. Actually, the real fight isn'...
Mon, Jun 22 2015, 4:39 PM
Mortgage rates had been walking a slow, steady path of improvement since hitting 8 month highs on June 10th. From then on, there were only 2 d...
Mon, Jun 22 2015, 4:37 PM
Right from the start of the overnight session, global bond markets were on the back foot. During Asian hours, this was contained to a 3bp spike in 10...
Fri, Jun 19 2015, 12:28 PM
The overnight session was uneventful for US bond markets with most of the action consisting of Europe catching up to yesterday's afternoon rally in ...
Fri, Jun 19 2015, 11:09 AM
The Federal Housing Administration
(FHA) has introduced its initial steps toward a new Single Family Loan Quality
Assessment Methodology or what i...
Fri, Jun 19 2015, 10:47 AM
The
Census Bureau reports that as of Q1, the percentage of Americans who
own their homes fell to the lowest level in 20Ys (to 63.8%). Tighter
le...
Fri, Jun 19 2015, 7:33 AM
Good old 2015. January was quite nice for fans of low rates. The hotly anticipated ruling from the European Court of Justice on QE was about to be h...
Fri, Jun 19 2015, 3:50 PM
Without too much regard for European bond markets or Greek headlines (despite what you might have heard), US bond markets were stronger this morning. ...
Fri, Jun 19 2015, 3:18 PM
Mortgage rates took a few more steps in the right direction today and have now made it back to levels not seen since the beginning of June. On...
Thu, Jun 18 2015, 11:42 AM
Following yesterday's FOMC events, bond markets rallied back in line with recent low yields. With the rally taking place in the afternoon, Asian and ...
Thu, Jun 18 2015, 10:52 AM
Ellie Mae said on Thursday that its latest Origination Insight Report "Reflects a
home buying season in full swing ." The
May data shows purchas...
Thu, Jun 18 2015, 10:47 AM
Completed foreclosures - or what RealtyTrac classifies as
REO - drove foreclosure activity in May to a 19 month high . The company's U.S. Foreclosu...
Thu, Jun 18 2015, 10:30 AM
Senior executives polled recently by Fannie Mae expressed
increased optimism about the demand for purchase mortgages and their own
profitability, at...
Thu, Jun 18 2015, 10:19 AM
Implementation of the Know Before You Owe mortgage
disclosure rule has been delayed until October 1 . The rule was originally supposed to be
imple...
Thu, Jun 18 2015, 10:13 AM
The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) has published its 2015 report identifying the top 250 Latino mortgage origina...
Thu, Jun 18 2015, 7:32 AM
Who's reacting to whom? We know that Europe is the primary source of upward pressure on rates over the past two months. We also know the Fed's rat...
Thu, Jun 18 2015, 4:22 PM
Mortgage rates had a far calmer day compared to yesterday's volatility. Morning hours brought stronger economic data. While this did put some p...
Thu, Jun 18 2015, 4:17 PM
It's getting to be quite a miraculous thing--the extent to which market participants have been attempting to manipulate every little Greek headline....
Wed, Jun 17 2015, 12:50 PM
Should I lock or float? Should I be advising clients to lock or float? Is the Fed going to help or hurt rates?
2 of these 3 common pre-Fed que...
Wed, Jun 17 2015, 9:58 AM
Interest rates increased to the highest levels since last fall and the
volume of mortgage applications responded as might be expected, falling across...
Wed, Jun 17 2015, 7:34 AM
Market participants and pundits alike knew that the Fed wouldn't hike rates at the April meeting. Even then , that meeting served as the starting po...
