Fri, Apr 23 2021, 12:09 PM
New home sales reversed direction in March, fully recovering from the 18.2 percent nosedive those sales took in February. The Census Bureau said sales...
Fri, Apr 23 2021, 10:33 AM
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is predicting a banner year for purchase mortgage originations. The Association's chief economist and senior vi...
Fri, Apr 23 2021, 10:32 AM
Existing home sales declined for the second straight month in March. The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) said single-family homes, townhomes, ...
Fri, Apr 23 2021, 10:28 AM
My cat Myrtle seems immune to marketing and advertisement. Not everyone is, of course, and there are some clever, albeit ominous, ways to get messages...
Thu, Apr 22 2021, 5:06 PM
Mortgage rates fell to the lowest levels since March 2nd or 3rd (depending on the lender) yesterday and today they fell just a bit more. Most borrower...
Thu, Apr 22 2021, 4:01 PM
Forget the ECB; Taxes Saved Bonds Today
First off, bonds didn't really need "saving." They were only modest...
Thu, Apr 22 2021, 10:48 AM
For months, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has been citing lumber prices as one of the headwinds faced by new home builders as they ...
Thu, Apr 22 2021, 10:44 AM
Black Knight's "first look" at loan performance data in March brought back memories of an old TV ad, "Is it real or is it Memorex?" The company said t...
Thu, Apr 22 2021, 10:25 AM
Not you, of course, but many other people in our biz are elderly. Sure you haven’t seen them in person in a year, but they’re there. Or they have elde...
Thu, Apr 22 2021, 10:04 AM
Today's only real significant market mover is/was the ECB Announcement and press conference. They weren't expected to change policy, but markets were...
Wed, Apr 21 2021, 3:39 PM
Last Thursday was the best day for mortgage rates in more than a month, and while they bounced back up on Thursday afternoon, they've been falling mod...
Wed, Apr 21 2021, 3:28 PM
4th Straight Day Inside Last Thursday's Range
Last Thursday was the best rally day we've seen in months and ...
Wed, Apr 21 2021, 10:04 AM
There are no major events on the econ calendar today and no compelling market movers in play so far this week--at least not for bonds. Stocks, on the...
Wed, Apr 21 2021, 9:50 AM
Over the weekend I visited a gas station, and the fellow in the kiosk had a name tag with, “Tim, Fuel Leader” inscribed on it. I will leave making fun...
Wed, Apr 21 2021, 9:45 AM
Mortgage application volume broke out of a six-week slump in a big way during the week ended April 16. The Mortgage Bankers Association said its Marke...
Tue, Apr 20 2021, 4:23 PM
Mortgage rates hit their lowest levels in more than a month last Thursday, but reversed course later that afternoon. With that, it looked like rates w...
Tue, Apr 20 2021, 4:21 PM
Decent Day For Bonds as Stocks Sell
A good, old-fashioned "risk-off" rally has been hard to come by in 2021,...
Tue, Apr 20 2021, 10:53 AM
The Urban Institute (UI) is advocating for a streamlined refinancing program similar to the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) which aided many ...
Tue, Apr 20 2021, 10:13 AM
Whenever I ask my cat Myrtle about her opinion of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, she remains mum. But the CFPB has been in the press lately. ...
Tue, Apr 20 2021, 9:39 AM
How can you avoid reading this prose when the headline is so gripping? Slow trading! Sideways grind! Lack of obvious near-term inspiration! If we'...
Mon, Apr 19 2021, 3:19 PM
Slow Start to a Potentially Slow Week.
Bonds did a good enough job of holding their ground today thus leavin...
Mon, Apr 19 2021, 12:30 PM
Incoming data for March has caused Fannie Mae to again revise its forecast for the year's growth in gross domestic product (GDP). The company's Econom...
Mon, Apr 19 2021, 11:32 AM
The House Committee on Financial Services (FSC) held a virtual hearing last week on ways to provide equitable and affordable housing infrastructure. T...
Mon, Apr 19 2021, 10:19 AM
As lenders are wondering who will be the next merger or acquisition announcement (news of the Sterling Bancorp and Webster Financial came out this mor...
Mon, Apr 19 2021, 10:02 AM
When the most recent leg of US bond market weakness began in February, US 10yr yields were around 1.1% and German Bund yields (effectively the "EU 10y...
Fri, Apr 16 2021, 5:21 PM
Still a Decent Week Despite Friday Slide
Thursday morning was exceptionally strong for bonds--perhaps too st...
Fri, Apr 16 2021, 11:34 AM
Residential construction recovered in March after a serious decline the prior month. The U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Develo...
Fri, Apr 16 2021, 11:16 AM
True to tradition, new home sales appear to have moved higher in March as the calendar closed in on the start of the spring market. The Mortgage Banke...
Fri, Apr 16 2021, 10:48 AM
Suddenly everyone’s ruminating on upcoming mergers and acquisitions (and there will definitely be some), but in the lower management ranks, lenders ar...
Fri, Apr 16 2021, 10:06 AM
For virtually all of 2021 (and much of Q4 2020), we've been tracking an uptrend in Treasury yields. As the overall move grew to a size rarely seen in...
Thu, Apr 15 2021, 4:50 PM
It's no secret that mortgage rates had a rough month in March and a rough year in general. The average lender raised 30yr fixed rates by roughly half ...
Thu, Apr 15 2021, 3:56 PM
Snowball Rally For Bonds! Why? And What Next?
Heading into today, we expected the bond market to ignore po...
Thu, Apr 15 2021, 11:22 AM
New home builders seem to be slowly getting their mojo back. After recovering from the hit they took in the first days of the pandemic, they encounter...
Thu, Apr 15 2021, 11:12 AM
There are some clever people out there, especially when it comes to satisfying demand . Lenders know that mortgage pricing is a function of supply and...
Thu, Apr 15 2021, 10:19 AM
Heading into today, we expected the bond market to ignore potentially stronger Retail Sales data. Not only did bonds overlook the big beat (9.8 vs 5....
Wed, Apr 14 2021, 4:44 PM
Super Sideways Ahead of Retail Sales
Retail Sales used to be a big ticket report, but like so many others, h...
Wed, Apr 14 2021, 1:39 PM
Freddie Mac's Economic and Housing Research Group finds a lot to like in the present economic environment. . The company's quarterly forecast credits ...
Wed, Apr 14 2021, 1:05 PM
Black Knight has launched a new monthly report covering mortgage origination activity as gathered through its Optimal Blue loan product and pricing en...
Wed, Apr 14 2021, 11:53 AM
"I wear a stethoscope so that in a medical emergency I can teach people a valuable lesson about assumptions.” People shouldn’t assume that all offices...
Wed, Apr 14 2021, 10:09 AM
Yesterday was good for bonds with 10yr yields covering more ground toward lower yields during domestic trading hours than any other day since February...
Tue, Apr 13 2021, 4:04 PM
Slow and steady wins the race, and mortgage rates have been making slow, steady progress back down from recent long-term highs seen at the end of Marc...
Tue, Apr 13 2021, 4:03 PM
Strong Showing With Help From Vaccine Drama and a Solid Bond Auction
The day began with bonds falling back t...
Tue, Apr 13 2021, 2:56 PM
While most of us couldn't wait for 2020 to be over, it turns out to have been a superlative year for mortgage originators. The Mortgage Bankers Associ...
Tue, Apr 13 2021, 11:08 AM
The national delinquency rate posted its fifth consecutive decline in January, retreating to the lowest level since the start of the pandemic. CoreLog...
Tue, Apr 13 2021, 11:07 AM
Why do all underwriters have soft hair? Because they over-condition! (How do your underwriters feel about bitcoin? Brokers up in Canada are now accept...
Tue, Apr 13 2021, 9:01 AM
It's a sign of the times that the bond market responded with a modest rally following a stronger reading on CPI and a looming record-size 30yr bond au...
Mon, Apr 12 2021, 4:04 PM
Bonds Look Past Weaker Treasury Auction
Treasury auction have been more important than normal so far in 2021...
Mon, Apr 12 2021, 10:41 AM
Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs) have released information to their lenders confirming that any loans they purchase after July 1, 2021 must ...
Mon, Apr 12 2021, 10:35 AM
I received this over the weekend: “I just want to make enough money to live a life that doesn't include Microsoft Teams in my work life.” Many people ...
Mon, Apr 12 2021, 9:43 AM
Three weeks ago, the bond market made its first attempt to rally toward lower yields after ending the previous week bouncing at a ceiling of 1.75% in ...
