Mon, Sep 15 2014, 4:22 PM
Mortgage rates managed to hold steady today, which matches the very best performance of any other day in September. In other words, rates have e...
Mon, Sep 15 2014, 2:19 PM
Much has been made lately over the
propensity of so-called millennials, the demographic cohort which is now
between 18 and 34 years of age, to forgo...
Fri, Sep 12 2014, 12:01 PM
Throughout the week, we've had our eyes on the long term downtrend in rates stretching back to the beginning of 2014. It provided some context for th...
Fri, Sep 12 2014, 10:30 AM
The
Community Reinvestment Act is certainly full of policies and
procedures, and you might have a new set of them to contemplate. Using
the Fe...
Fri, Sep 12 2014, 7:31 AM
I hate the terms 'overbought' and 'oversold.' At best, they cause confusion, and at worst they serve as the basis for faulty decision-making among ...
Fri, Sep 12 2014, 4:35 PM
Actually, the last 2 weeks have been ugly for bond markets. It's almost as if a switch was flipped as soon as September began.
Just when ...
Fri, Sep 12 2014, 3:18 PM
Mortgage rates have now endured an insulting 10 straight days without improving. While a few of those have resulted in 'unchanged' levels, most ...
Fri, Sep 12 2014, 1:33 PM
There are five key issues confronting
the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) its director told a banking audience
on Monday. The five, taken t...
Thu, Sep 11 2014, 12:05 PM
After 8 days in throes of volatility and weakness, bond markets are finally catching a small break today. For now, it's no more than a half-hearted...
Thu, Sep 11 2014, 10:40 AM
In preparing to write a small blurb about the Unmarried and Singles Week
that starts in 10 days, which, as best I can tell, is nowhere near
Vale...
Thu, Sep 11 2014, 7:31 AM
When we talk about the 'longer term trend' these days, we're referencing the slow and steady improvements for bond markets that began in early 2014. ...
Thu, Sep 11 2014, 4:26 PM
It was a bit of a cruel session for bond markets as the day started out in stronger territory only to sell off with less than 2 hours to go. After 8 ...
Thu, Sep 11 2014, 3:00 PM
Mortgage rates were essentially unchanged today. Most lenders were microscopically lower in terms of closing costs, though several went the othe...
Thu, Sep 11 2014, 1:43 PM
The Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA's)
measure of new home sales reflected a significant drop in the volume of applications
for mortgages to p...
Thu, Sep 11 2014, 1:42 PM
Foreclosure activity increased significantly in August according to the
U.S. Foreclosure Market Report released Thursday by RealtyTrac. The increa...
Wed, Sep 10 2014, 12:41 PM
Fannie 3.5s are down 10/32nds from yesterday's latest levels. Keep in mind that today's prices reflect October coupons whereas yesterday's were based...
Wed, Sep 10 2014, 10:55 AM
The
city of San Francisco has 121 square kilometers (about 47 square
miles). The Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport's area is about 70 square
kilometers, ...
Wed, Sep 10 2014, 9:10 AM
Mortgage applications displayed their worst
volumes in months during the week ended September 5. That the week was shortened by the Labor Day
holid...
Wed, Sep 10 2014, 7:33 AM
Yesterday's mid-day commentary did a good job of summing up the general malaise in bond markets. Revisit it HERE if you like, but here's the impo...
Wed, Sep 10 2014, 5:00 PM
Whiel we could see some sort of technical bounce or a data-driven consolidation of recent trading patterns, bond markets have generally been on a tear...
Wed, Sep 10 2014, 3:37 PM
Mortgage rates continued moving higher at a fairly quick pace today. Some borrowers may now start to see rate quotes moving up an eighth of a po...
Tue, Sep 9 2014, 12:13 PM
Negative momentum has been pervasive in September so far. Even the brief rally after Friday's jobs report failed to get yields back down to Thursday'...
Tue, Sep 9 2014, 10:42 AM
First
time home buyers include more than just Millennials - see the note a
few paragraphs down. The group includes recent immigrants, newly
divo...
Tue, Sep 9 2014, 7:39 AM
September has been decidedly negative for bond markets so far, and largely without any regard for economic data and events. Given that 'month-end' ...
Tue, Sep 9 2014, 4:40 PM
NOTE: Tonight is "the roll" for Fannie and Freddie 30yr Fixed MBS. That means that September coupons will be done trading at the end of business tod...
Tue, Sep 9 2014, 3:12 PM
Mortgage rates finally delivered an unequivocal performance today. Unfortunately, it wasn't the kind we were hoping for. Rates moved higher at t...
Tue, Sep 9 2014, 2:38 PM
The market share of all-cash home sales
continues to fall and in June made up the lowest share since the beginning of
the financial crisis . Cor...
Tue, Sep 9 2014, 1:30 PM
Freddie Mac's HomeStep program, the
vehicle through which the company sells its foreclosed property or REO, is
experiencing increased numbers of m...
Mon, Sep 8 2014, 12:52 PM
Consumer sentiment toward housing
appeared to turn a bit negative in August.
Fewer participants in Fannie Mae's National Housing Survey thought i...
Mon, Sep 8 2014, 12:43 PM
Monday continues to look like a mere shadow of the trading days at the end of last week. For example, Fannie 3.5 MBS have been in a range between 1...
Mon, Sep 8 2014, 10:31 AM
Here
at the Pacific Northwest Lenders conference in Portland, a big topic of
conversation is, like it is everywhere, regulation. Understandably
...
Mon, Sep 8 2014, 7:33 AM
Compared to last week, we have fewer potential market movers on the calendar in the week ahead. But that doesn't make it any less important. If anyt...
Mon, Sep 8 2014, 4:37 PM
Bond markets started the day in stronger territory, but well-within the range set by Friday's trading. Treasuries took cues from Europe amid limited ...
Mon, Sep 8 2014, 3:39 PM
Mortgage rates were higher OR lower today, depending on the lender. Some of the differences in pricing strategies have to do with Friday afterno...
Fri, Sep 5 2014, 12:20 PM
Treasuries and MBS dodged a bullet today in that a strong showing from the Employment Situation Report (aka "NFP" for the primary component: nonfarm...
Fri, Sep 5 2014, 10:35 AM
There's
a lot of data swirling around the demographic black-hole of lending
known as "the Millennials." I've come to the conclusion that this is
...
Fri, Sep 5 2014, 7:31 AM
Bond markets are vulnerable right now--perhaps more vulnerable than they've been for several months. During that time, they've taken on an air of n...
Fri, Sep 5 2014, 5:05 PM
Some movies are interesting and dramatic in a way that real life tends not to be. This even applies to many TV series where the protagonist "solves" ...
Fri, Sep 5 2014, 4:11 PM
Mortgage rates were lower out of the gate this morning after the weaker-than-expected jobs report fueled bond market gains. As bond prices rise,...
Fri, Sep 5 2014, 3:08 PM
Housing America's Older Adults, a new study conducted by Harvard's
Joint Center for Housing Studies for the AARP Foundation points to the
problems...
Thu, Sep 4 2014, 10:44 AM
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said on
Thursday that overall access to mortgage credit tightened very slightly in
August. The Association...
Thu, Sep 4 2014, 7:31 AM
The European Central Bank (ECB) announcement hits at 7:45am this morning and ECB President Draghi does the usual press conference at 830am. With th...
Thu, Sep 4 2014, 5:04 PM
Most every indication we've had from economic data in recent months has been that it just doesn't matter that much to bond markets. Treasuries, esp...
Thu, Sep 4 2014, 3:44 PM
Mortgage rates ended the day fairly well mixed between higher and lower compared to yesterday. This is heavily dependent on the lender in questi...
Thu, Sep 4 2014, 1:51 PM
A Synergy survey finds Gen Y find the following to be the most important bank features and services: ease of
doing business (88%), continual access...
Thu, Sep 4 2014, 1:00 PM
It's been a busy morning for bond markets, with lots of economic data as well as the European Central Bank Announcement and Press Conference. Several...
Wed, Sep 3 2014, 12:40 PM
Today's entire trading session centers on one key event: an overnight announcement that a Ukraine Ceasefire had been agreed to by both 'sides.' Bond...
Wed, Sep 3 2014, 9:33 AM
September...
ugh. Most latitudes in the U.S. are losing 2-3 minutes a day of
daylight; in Anchorage they lose 5-6 minutes a day, Key West only abo...
Wed, Sep 3 2014, 9:16 AM
Mortgage applications were virtually
unchanged during the week ended August 29.
The Mortgage Bankers Association said that its Market Composite I...
Wed, Sep 3 2014, 9:11 AM
Yesterday marked the most abrupt day of selling in bond markets since the end of July. In some ways, it was a wake-up call as to the time of year, ...
