Mon, Nov 22 2021, 11:02 AM
Time flies. For example, Thanksgiving week is here already. Debbie Harry, of Blondie fame, is 76 years old. Better.com has already been around five ye...
Fri, Nov 19 2021, 3:13 PM
Strong Showing Overall Despite Late Day Weakness
As noted in this morning's commentary, the key source of in...
Fri, Nov 19 2021, 3:00 PM
Winter is coming, both literally and figuratively. While the fallout remains to be seen, financial markets are already reacting. In the literal sense,...
Fri, Nov 19 2021, 12:45 PM
The ink wasn’t dry on Fannie Mae’s October economic forecast when the month’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) was published showing an inflation rate two-t...
Fri, Nov 19 2021, 11:43 AM
As yesterday's AM commentary tacitly suggested, "winter is coming" in terms of the connection between colder temps and higher covid case counts. Euro...
Fri, Nov 19 2021, 10:56 AM
Before we gear up for reported Christmas tree shortages and their exorbitant prices, Brent G. writes, “My family asked me what I was planning for Than...
Thu, Nov 18 2021, 3:31 PM
Bonds Add to Case For Stability
Bonds put in a solid enough performance on Thursday with 10yr yields almost ...
Thu, Nov 18 2021, 2:58 PM
Mortgage rates were modestly lower today as the bond market continued pushing back against somewhat abrupt weakness. The average media coverage says s...
Thu, Nov 18 2021, 11:22 AM
Refinancing continued to account for the largest share of mortgage originations in September, 53 percent of the total compared to 52 percent in Octobe...
Thu, Nov 18 2021, 10:36 AM
The overnight session was mostly uneventful for the bond market, but trading levels were slightly weaker in the first hour of trading. Since then, bu...
Thu, Nov 18 2021, 10:19 AM
Recently the podcast, its link at the bottom of this opening paragraph daily, quoted, “Change in residential lending is mandatory; progress is optiona...
Wed, Nov 17 2021, 4:46 PM
Mortgage rates finally caught a break after spending the past six business days moving higher at a faster-than-normal pace. During that time, the aver...
Wed, Nov 17 2021, 4:40 PM
Bonds Improve, Led by Treasuries as Corporate Pipeline Clears
One of the key sources of motivation for risin...
Wed, Nov 17 2021, 10:39 AM
29 working/business days left in 2021. Some MLOs, who can shift their client’s refi closings, are thinking about the tax implications of closing this ...
Wed, Nov 17 2021, 10:31 AM
Residential construction numbers were mixed in October. The U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development report an increase in c...
Wed, Nov 17 2021, 10:26 AM
After its 5.8 percent jump the previous week, the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA's) Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage application vol...
Wed, Nov 17 2021, 9:40 AM
Last Wednesday brought the sharpest sell-off to the bond market in over a month. Bonds continued to weaken on the next two relevant trading days (Mon...
Tue, Nov 16 2021, 4:15 PM
MBS Outperform on Curve Steepening and Corporate Issuance
The yield curve has been almost exclusively in "fl...
Tue, Nov 16 2021, 3:34 PM
Mortgage rates continued higher again today, despite a fairly flat performance in the bond market. Specifically, the mortgage-backed securities (MBS) ...
Tue, Nov 16 2021, 11:52 AM
Broker and Lender Services and Products 163,000 pints of Guinness are wasted in facial hair each year , according to the Irish brewery, which commissi...
Tue, Nov 16 2021, 11:26 AM
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is expecting that a higher volume of new home sales occurred in October than in the previous month, even as pur...
Tue, Nov 16 2021, 11:20 AM
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) said builder confidence in the new home sales market increased in November for the third consecutive ...
Tue, Nov 16 2021, 9:52 AM
This morning's Retail Sales report--arguably the week's headliner--came in stronger than expected, and significantly stronger than the previous month....
Mon, Nov 15 2021, 3:44 PM
After hitting the lowest levels in over a month last Tuesday, mortgage rates have been moving higher fairly quickly each day since then. Most of the d...
Mon, Nov 15 2021, 3:44 PM
Defensive Until Further Notice
Bonds sold off early and often to begin the new week. Selling pressure rampe...
Mon, Nov 15 2021, 10:57 AM
The National Association of Realtors® (NAR), holding its annual conference in San Diego, heard from chief economist Lawrence Yun about the prospects f...
Mon, Nov 15 2021, 10:54 AM
This morning I head to Kansas for the MBAKC annual membership luncheon later this week. Home price appreciation is doing just fine in Kansas City , an...
Mon, Nov 15 2021, 9:46 AM
Bonds were unchanged on Friday after selling off aggressively on Thursday. At first glance, that could be taken as confirmation of the weakness, but ...
Fri, Nov 12 2021, 4:48 PM
Lots of Apparent Drama For an "Unchanged" Day
The morning's headline proclaimed that today was essentially a...
Fri, Nov 12 2021, 4:26 PM
Several sources for mortgage rate data are doing consumers a major disservice this week. At least two of them are claiming that the average top tier 3...
Fri, Nov 12 2021, 1:21 PM
Foreclosure filings increased in the fourth month following the July 31 expiration of the pandemic related moratorium. ATTOM says those filings were u...
Fri, Nov 12 2021, 1:20 PM
The universe of mortgage regulators issued a joint statement on Wednesday, notifying servicers that they intend to again enforce "critical protections...
Fri, Nov 12 2021, 10:56 AM
The typical federal holiday plays nicely with the bond market. Most involve a full closure on a Monday or Friday and are often preceded by a "half da...
Fri, Nov 12 2021, 10:45 AM
Forget mortgages… As snow hits the Upper Midwest and rain hits the East Coast, according to the USDA, nationwide frozen turkey inventories are 24 perc...
Wed, Nov 10 2021, 3:52 PM
The national delinquency rate has seen a massive improvement over the last year. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reports that, at the end of th...
Wed, Nov 10 2021, 3:34 PM
Mortgage rates managed to drift down to their best levels in more than a month by yesterday, but the good times ended today... abruptly ! Interest rat...
Wed, Nov 10 2021, 3:32 PM
Big Nasty Sell-Off Sends a Message About The Range
Steady selling in the morning followed by heavy selling a...
Wed, Nov 10 2021, 11:13 AM
Consumer attitudes toward both buying and selling improved in October, although the number who feel it is a good time to buy a home remains at record ...
Wed, Nov 10 2021, 11:11 AM
I recently spent some of my day receiving a COVID test, and the nurse asked me, “Have you had a sudden loss of taste?” I replied, “No, I’ve always dre...
Wed, Nov 10 2021, 9:44 AM
Refinancing rebounded during the week ended November 5, driving the volume of mortgage applications to their largest week-over-week increase since lat...
Wed, Nov 10 2021, 9:42 AM
In econo-jargon, the word "real" typically refers to "inflation-adjusted." So when we say that "real 10yr yields" hit record lows this morning, it co...
Tue, Nov 9 2021, 3:56 PM
Mortgage credit availability did little to crawl back to pre-pandemic levels last month. The Mortgage Bankers Association said its Mortgage Credit Ava...
Tue, Nov 9 2021, 3:53 PM
Black Knight says rate locks declined 5.9 percent in October on top of a 10 percent decrease in September. Purchase mortgage locks and those for cash-...
Tue, Nov 9 2021, 3:42 PM
Mortgage rates moved moderately lower for the 5th straight day, bringing them to the best levels since late September or early October, depending on t...
Tue, Nov 9 2021, 3:36 PM
Weaker Treasury Auction, But Only After a Strong Morning
In and of itself, the10yr Treasury auction (arguabl...
Tue, Nov 9 2021, 8:58 AM
Today's MBS charts initially made it seem like prices had fallen versus yesterday's latest levels. In a way, they did, but the right side of the char...
Mon, Nov 8 2021, 4:27 PM
Mortgage rates are directly based on trading levels in the bond market, so it's almost a given that rates will move in the same direction as bond yiel...
Mon, Nov 8 2021, 4:27 PM
Mixed Signals As Holiday-Shortened Week Begins
Bonds lost some ground today. 10yr yields were up roughly 4b...
Mon, Nov 8 2021, 11:28 AM
One of the original and most well-known housing market IBuyers has bit the dust. Zillow announced last week that it is discontinuing its Zillow Offers...
Mon, Nov 8 2021, 11:26 AM
Starting today I’m in Oklahoma City for the OMBA Conference . The median home price here is roughly $150,000 and housing prices are up nearly 7 percen...
