Tue, Sep 17 2013, 12:56 PM
As it did following the devastation of Hurricane
Sandy, Freddie Mac has made the full menu of its mortgage relief policies available
to borrowers ...
Tue, Sep 17 2013, 12:54 PM
Fannie Mae's senior economists said
today that anticipated declines in refinance
originations suggest that mortgage industry employment, which has...
Tue, Sep 17 2013, 12:19 PM
Builder confidence in the market for newly built
single family homes held steady in September after four consecutive months of
improvements the Na...
Tue, Sep 17 2013, 12:08 PM
From this morning's MBS Live Update: The inevitable pall of silence leading up to FOMC Wednesday is much more
evident this morning, without the dist...
Tue, Sep 17 2013, 10:41 AM
Late Monday Freddie Mac issued a bulletin for its
Single-Family Servicer Guide ( Bulletin
2013-17) which covers changes to the Home Affordable Modi...
Tue, Sep 17 2013, 9:48 AM
I am really surprised at how many mortgage vets seem to have forgotten
what a business cycle is (almost like how I was surprised in 1977 when a
bu...
Tue, Sep 17 2013, 6:40 AM
Larry Summers gift to bond market trading on Sunday/Monday was that
we now have the honor of approaching Wednesday's FOMC events with the
"Larry S...
Tue, Sep 17 2013, 5:41 PM
We've been waiting for tomorrow, specifically, for nearly 4 months.
Competing reactions to the key components in the FOMC data make for an
utterl...
Tue, Sep 17 2013, 4:50 PM
As if to reinforce the gravity of the events that lie ahead, Mortgage rates were perfectly flat today, on
average, meaning that today's rate s...
Tue, Sep 17 2013, 2:44 PM
Home remodeling appears to be growing even more
steadily that other sectors of the residential construction industry. Building permits for improveme...
Mon, Sep 16 2013, 12:03 PM
On Sunday evening, Larry Summers announced his withdrawal from
consideration for the Fed Chair position. Stock and Bond futures
rallied big durin...
Mon, Sep 16 2013, 10:24 AM
On Friday the 13th the CFPB released the final amendments
to the Loan Officer Compensation, Servicing, QM and HOEPA Rules. The
official release ...
Mon, Sep 16 2013, 9:34 AM
Between a slight decrease this month and a massive negative revision
to the previous month, the California real estate market turned on a
dime acc...
Mon, Sep 16 2013, 7:25 AM
From the moment the Fed officially began considering a reduction in
asset purchases in late June, and even when unofficial consideration
ramped up...
Mon, Sep 16 2013, 6:16 PM
Mortgage rates improved again today, bringing
them to their best levels of month, just on par with rate sheets from
late August. Conforming, ...
Mon, Sep 16 2013, 4:32 PM
Interest rates have been determined and methodical about their slog
higher from May 2nd levels. That's been well over a full percentage
point bot...
Mon, Sep 16 2013, 2:45 PM
Monthly sales figures from the California
Association of Realtors® (C.A.R.) confirm indications from DataQuick data
posted earlier today that the re...
Fri, Sep 13 2013, 12:59 PM
The Treasury Department has released a graphics-filled Power Point presentation
titled The Financial Crisis Five Years
Later , Response, Reform, a...
Fri, Sep 13 2013, 12:14 PM
Darrin Benhart, Deputy
Comptroller for Credit
and Market Risk, Office of Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) said in
a speech on Wednesday that the...
Fri, Sep 13 2013, 11:54 AM
For bond markets, it's another day of "positivity, but with a
catch." That's been the case with every single drop of positive
momentum this week!...
Fri, Sep 13 2013, 10:56 AM
Japan's Nikkei newspaper is
quoting unnamed sources saying that former Clinton Administration Treasury Secretary
Lawrence Summers will be the next...
Fri, Sep 13 2013, 10:23 AM
After 36 years of space travel and months of heated debate among
scientists, NASA confirmed Thursday that Voyager 1 has indeed left our
solar syst...
Fri, Sep 13 2013, 5:42 PM
Mortgage rates improved slightly today, bringing
them to their best levels of week. The day's economic data, which
stood a chance to push rat...
Fri, Sep 13 2013, 4:43 PM
It takes some measure of bravery to bet big rates moving
significantly lower or higher from current levels when the rest of the
market is so decid...
Fri, Sep 13 2013, 3:42 PM
A second
set of amendments and clarifications to the Consumer Financial Protection
Bureau's (CFPB) January 2013 mortgage rules will be released this...
Fri, Sep 13 2013, 1:43 AM
At this point, next week's FOMC events are on a pedestal so high that
their actual stature may be hard-pressed to live up to the legend.
After al...
Fri, Sep 13 2013, 1:34 PM
The panel of
four witnesses that appeared before the Senate Banking Committee hearing on the
Essential Elements of Housing Finance Reform were large...
Thu, Sep 12 2013, 12:21 PM
Citi is a global bank, and unfortunately for some of its workforce, there will be fewer of them in the mortgage group. Per FOX Business, Citigroup pl...
Thu, Sep 12 2013, 10:25 AM
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform
and Consumer Protection Act and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)
which it created appear to be a lo...
Thu, Sep 12 2013, 9:55 AM
Falling foreclosure starts pulled overall foreclosure activity down 2
percent in August compared to July and 34 percent lower than one year earlier. ...
Thu, Sep 12 2013, 8:14 AM
Yesterday traded like the Thursday of an auction week rather than a Wednesday, in that there was a noticeable sigh of relief
in bond markets after...
Thu, Sep 12 2013, 5:08 PM
Mortgage rates held almost perfectly flat today, after
starting the day in stronger territory and losing ground in the
afternoon. As such, Co...
Thu, Sep 12 2013, 4:34 PM
Today's commentary began with the observation that yesterday seemed
more like the culmination of an auction cycle than the middle of one.
Today's...
Thu, Sep 12 2013, 2:46 PM
The Director of the Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau (CFPB) finally got to present the Bureau's third Semi-Annual
Report to the House Financial...
Thu, Sep 12 2013, 2:38 PM
The Mortgage Bankers
Association (MBA) said that applications for mortgages to purchase new homes
dropped 14 percent in August to a seasonally adj...
Thu, Sep 12 2013, 1:22 PM
Treasuries were stronger overnight as Asian accounts kicked off the
session piling in to the same post Verizon/10yr Auction positivity seen
during...
Wed, Sep 11 2013, 12:04 PM
The MBA numbers this morning confirmed that business is slowing even
more. Lock desks knew it but the MBA confirmed it: the Mortgage Bankers
Assoc...
Wed, Sep 11 2013, 9:05 AM
The rally in
refinancing reported last week by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) was
short lived. Rates rose again during the
week ended Sept...
Wed, Sep 11 2013, 6:46 AM
Even with backs already up against a wall, bond markets still managed
to find a way to be weaker on Tuesday. Perhaps this means we need to
adjust...
Wed, Sep 11 2013, 5:30 PM
Mortgage rates changed course yet again, this
time heading back down after yesterday's rise ended a reasonably strong
2-day move lower. Today...
Wed, Sep 11 2013, 5:21 PM
The credit crunch, the financial
collapse, and the ensuing deep recession will likely stand as the most
significant financial events of our generati...
Wed, Sep 11 2013, 5:15 PM
MBS began the day roughly in line with yesterday's latest post-roll
levels (meaning October's 30yr Fixed Fannie/Freddie MBS opened today
where the...
Wed, Sep 11 2013, 2:16 PM
Despite a lawsuit and threats from the
securities industry and the federal government to cut off its credit, the City
Council in Richmond, Californi...
Wed, Sep 11 2013, 1:13 PM
The 10yr Auction just came in much stronger than expected. Bond
markets had been volatile ahead of time as the massive Verizon corporate
bond off...
Tue, Sep 10 2013, 12:56 PM
Bond markets began the day in weaker territory with a number of
factors eligible for blame. Overnight data was stronger in China and
Europe.n Te...
Tue, Sep 10 2013, 10:34 AM
Several fair housing and civil rights
groups have come to the side of the City of Richmond, California as it attempts
to use its power of eminent do...
Tue, Sep 10 2013, 10:30 AM
Last month this commentary mentioned the possibility of a maximum
loan amount reduction by the agencies. It has now become mainstream news
- a poo...
Tue, Sep 10 2013, 7:46 PM
HUD is struggling to make the grade, regardless of potentially valid
excuses. That's the short version. The longer version in today's
testimony ...
Tue, Sep 10 2013, 6:56 PM
Mortgage rates bounced back toward recent highs today, ending
a fairly healthy two-day move lower after last Thursday saw the highest
rates in...
Tue, Sep 10 2013, 6:43 AM
Tuesday sees the inception of both the Treasury Auction cycle and the
MBS Settlement cycle for the week and month. For MBS, this merely
means tha...
