Mon, Mar 2 2015, 7:34 AM
It's an exciting and dangerous time for US rates markets, full of risk and opportunity. For those of us who were closely watching trends in rates...
Mon, Mar 2 2015, 5:34 PM
Have you heard much about Actavis before today?
Me neither, but that sure changed quickly! Actavis is a big pharmaceutical company that annou...
Mon, Mar 2 2015, 4:34 PM
Mortgage rates rose fairly sharply to begin the new month as a large corporate bond sale indirectly hurt the bonds that dictate mortgage rates. ...
Mon, Mar 2 2015, 4:26 PM
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), conservator of
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs), released guidelines for their sales of
non-perform...
Fri, Feb 27 2015, 11:27 AM
Even though sales of existing homes dropped by 4.9 percent
in January buyers were apparently out shopping and seriously so. The National Association...
Fri, Feb 27 2015, 11:06 AM
Zillow published an article
indicating that low-income renters have moved away from living in
rural, dense communities and into more affluent su...
Fri, Feb 27 2015, 7:34 AM
We're all a bit shaken up--us market watching types. Almost all of 2014 through January of 2015 was great, and now February has stuck out like a sore...
Fri, Feb 27 2015, 5:09 PM
Mortgage rates managed to scrape together modest gains for today's month-end session. In terms of the financial markets that dictate mortgage ...
Fri, Feb 27 2015, 4:59 PM
Very little has changed between now and the mid-day update (read that HERE if you like). To recap, bonds started the day roughly in line with yes...
Fri, Feb 27 2015, 3:04 PM
In our highly interconnected financial world, what happens in Europe, Greece, and Germany greatly affects our own bond and MBS markets .
There h...
Fri, Feb 27 2015, 2:39 PM
While its ultimate focus is the future
of the construction equipment business, Wells Fargo's Equipment Finance
division has some predictions for re...
Fri, Feb 27 2015, 1:06 PM
The last trading day of the month has managed to be a total let-down to anyone looking for excitement. In terms of doing no further harm , it's been...
Thu, Feb 26 2015, 12:43 PM
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) saw its share of
the mortgage market soar to 72 percent of all mortgages issued in 2008 as other
lenders pu...
Thu, Feb 26 2015, 12:13 PM
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) said today that
home prices in the fourth quarter of 2014 were up 1.4 percent compared to the
previous...
Thu, Feb 26 2015, 12:10 PM
Here
in North Dakota, at -9 degrees this morning, appraising properties is a
walk in the park, right? What about for appraisers in the Lake Erie ...
Thu, Feb 26 2015, 11:41 AM
The day began on a strong note with US bond markets led higher in price by an even stronger overnight move in Germany. Following the mornings' econom...
Thu, Feb 26 2015, 7:34 AM
Domestic bond markets had been getting pummeled for exactly 3 weeks before getting a break on Tuesday. Then yesterday, they confirmed they're not goi...
Thu, Feb 26 2015, 6:44 PM
For being a day that followed 2 sessions of gains in a month where 2 sessions of gains is nearly unheard of, today got off to a great start . There ...
Thu, Feb 26 2015, 6:04 PM
Mortgage rates were slightly higher today, undoing the modest gains seen yesterday, but leaving the more significant drop from Tuesday intact. ...
Wed, Feb 25 2015, 12:59 PM
Although there was a brief move to the lows of the day just after the noon hour, MBS have been doing a fine job of holding almost all of the gains fro...
Wed, Feb 25 2015, 10:49 AM
Sales of newly constructed single-family homes dipped only slightly
in January from December levels. The U.S.
Census Bureau and Department of Hou...
Wed, Feb 25 2015, 9:27 AM
Although
the focus of this 6-day a week commentary is residential, it is good to
have an awareness of commercial lending - especially as it compet...
Wed, Feb 25 2015, 8:59 AM
Mortgage applications
declined again during the week ended February 20. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said
that its Market Composite Ind...
Wed, Feb 25 2015, 7:34 AM
The answer to the question posed in the headline is "yes," both Yellen and Greece are moving markets. Unfortunately for the more traditional thinke...
Wed, Feb 25 2015, 5:44 PM
There are few situations that warrant more happiness or relief over what turned out to be a merely flat trading session in bond markets. Reason be...
Wed, Feb 25 2015, 4:04 PM
Mortgage rates had a bad Valentines Day. It's not that anything happened on that Saturday. Indeed, lenders weren't even open. It's just that t...
Wed, Feb 25 2015, 2:43 PM
Freddie
Mac said on Wednesday that its Multi-Indicator Market Index (MiMi) still shows that,
at the national level, housing is continuing to stabil...
Wed, Feb 25 2015, 2:40 PM
Black Knight Financial Services has released a "first look"
at its month-end January mortgage performance statistics. The company regularly previe...
Wed, Feb 25 2015, 2:40 PM
The
Home Price Index (HPI) report issued this week by Black Knight Financial
Services shows the December national index at $241,000, a -0.1 percent...
Tue, Feb 24 2015, 11:24 AM
Despite increases in 2014 that
were twice that of inflation, house prices are "faltering." The S&P/Case-Shiller composite city indices
for Decemb...
Tue, Feb 24 2015, 10:55 AM
Zelman and Associates published its January Homebuilding Survey ,
indicating that 2015 is off to a strong start. Order growth increased
32% year-...
Tue, Feb 24 2015, 7:33 AM
The Fed Chair's semi-annual congressional testimonies are always a hoot. That's where we get to see a delightful mix of politicians read what some ...
Tue, Feb 24 2015, 5:30 PM
If today wasn't a record in terms of positive reprice reports from MBS Live users, it was right up there. 44 have come through as yet, and it's n...
Tue, Feb 24 2015, 4:40 PM
Mortgage rates had their best day of the month today following Fed Chair Yellen's testimony before the Senate Banking Committee. That's part...
Tue, Feb 24 2015, 1:18 PM
There are a lot of moving parts to today's movement, and most of them working in synergy to benefit bond markets. The day began with Greece getting t...
Mon, Feb 23 2015, 12:58 PM
Despite Friday's volatile move into weaker territory, recent bond market trading decisions have been surprisingly logical. Arguably, we saw Friday ...
Mon, Feb 23 2015, 10:57 AM
Existing home sales in January were disappointing
to start the New Year, declining to their lowest rate in nine months. The sales, which include com...
Mon, Feb 23 2015, 10:34 AM
Young adults are stacking up, but not shacking up -
according to a recent Zillow analysis .
Most young adults are living with their parents or l...
Mon, Feb 23 2015, 7:33 AM
The current week begins with what may amount to some simple housekeeping for the Eurozone as Greece submits the list of reforms it's been working on o...
Mon, Feb 23 2015, 5:15 PM
Perhaps the headlines did too good of a job of selling Friday's Greek news as something more definitive than it was. After all, most headlines were s...
Mon, Feb 23 2015, 4:32 PM
Mortgage rates ended the day in almost perfectly unchanged territory versus Friday's despite trading levels improving in the secondary mortgage...
Mon, Feb 23 2015, 3:45 PM
There appears to be a battle in the making between
Realtor.com, which has provided on-line nationwide residential listing
information since the In...
Fri, Feb 20 2015, 12:21 PM
Did you catch the Day Ahead? It turned out to be pretty timely . Here it is if you need it:
MBS Day Ahead: Europe no Longer Fears Dominoes; Up...
Fri, Feb 20 2015, 11:00 AM
I
have been speaking with plenty of mortgage bankers in recent weeks -
what are they saying? The refi biz is alive and well but slowing
markedly...
Fri, Feb 20 2015, 7:32 AM
Things began to change in the Eurozone in 2013. That was when Cyprus and Italy were providing mild aftershocks following the bigger drama in 2010-2...
Fri, Feb 20 2015, 5:58 PM
I will have to be careful with how emphatically I convey today's volatility to friends and family. Anyone who doesn't follow markets as closely would...
Fri, Feb 20 2015, 4:51 PM
Mortgage rates are ending the day in very similar territory to yesterday's latest levels but have had something of a wild ride between now and ...
Fri, Feb 20 2015, 4:18 PM
Loans for home refinance made up 51 percent o f all loan
originations in January, an 8 percent jump compared to December. Ellie
Mae's Originat...
Fri, Feb 20 2015, 1:33 PM
Like Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae has
also reported a profitable fourth quarter of 2014 and a profitable year. The company had both net and comprehensive...
Fri, Feb 20 2015, 1:20 PM
Freddie Mac said today that full-year net income and
comprehensive income, $7.7 billion and 9.4 billion respectively, made 2014 the
company's third ...
