Tue, Aug 19 2014, 10:45 AM
Two important measures of strength in
the housing and construction industries moved substantially higher in July the
U.S. Census Bureau and the De...
Tue, Aug 19 2014, 10:42 AM
It
is fun to see that U.S. homebuilder confidence rose to a seven-month
high, primarily driven by lower mortgage rates and an improving jobs
mar...
Mon, Aug 18 2014, 10:59 AM
Say
what you will about Zillow (and people do), the firm does not fall
short as a driver of information. As many in the industry are preparing
t...
Wed, Aug 13 2014, 1:55 PM
The estimate from the Bureau of Economic
Analysis (BEA) of sharply improved economic growth in the second quarter is
good news for the housing mar...
Fri, Aug 8 2014, 10:45 AM
Mergers continue - and every one of them hopes it works out (and not like the cover of The Economist
titled "The Trouble with Mergers"). New York ...
Thu, Aug 7 2014, 2:42 PM
Sure, the stronger employment numbers of late and the well-developed home price recovery haven't translated to any meaningful improvements in building...
Fri, Aug 1 2014, 12:31 PM
Construction spending in June fell slightly below
that in May the Census Bureau said today.
Overall construction put in place during the month wa...
Mon, Jul 28 2014, 10:36 AM
How
is it that this is the last week of July already? Lots of lenders seem
to have seen decent Julys - but perhaps not as strong as some of their ...
Fri, Jul 25 2014, 1:30 PM
It was a bad day on Wall Street
Thursday for housing stocks. In no particular order Census Bureau
data was released showing that new home sales had...
Mon, Jul 21 2014, 9:47 AM
What
can you buy on minimum wage? Well, I guess that's a relative question;
relative to a number of factors such as where you live, your current
...
Fri, Jul 18 2014, 10:14 AM
Do
you have a plan in case you go bankrupt? The "big boys" do! The
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act requires that bank
...
Thu, Jul 17 2014, 10:48 AM
All three residential construction indicators fell
in June according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and
Urban Development. ...
Thu, Jul 17 2014, 10:37 AM
Non-QM loans, investor interest in those higher
yielding pools, potential disparate impact as a result of QM rules,
eMortgages (or the lack thereo...
Mon, Jul 14 2014, 10:28 AM
Sometimes it is hard to tell if things are legit or not, especially
when it comes to legislation. In 2014 Congress has reminded us of how it
is ne...
Mon, Jul 7 2014, 10:55 AM
Responses to Fannie Mae's National
Housing Survey for June showed more marked changes in several categories than
has been the case in recent month...
Thu, Jul 3 2014, 1:26 PM
The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies' most recent edition of The State of the Nation's Housing deals first with the current status of the hous...
Tue, Jul 1 2014, 10:47 AM
Yes, smaller lenders sue each other. The latest verdict announced was a decision between Stearns and Prospect Mortgage . And we have the latest set...
Tue, Jul 1 2014, 1:46 PM
Construction spending in the U.S. was
essentially flat in May although there were gains from one year earlier. A small gain in spending by the pub...
Mon, Jun 30 2014, 10:02 AM
Suddenly
the entire industry seems interested in three things: using the Federal
Home Loan Banks as a pseudo-warehouse line, jumbo deals, and
fo...
Tue, Jun 24 2014, 11:01 AM
There are 2 million "missing households" in
the US - which represents pent up demand for new residences in the US.
These are Millennials who are...
Mon, Jun 23 2014, 9:41 AM
"On
Thursday, June 19, issues of latency and connectivity were reported by
the public across multiple Internet Service Providers. The public can
...
Thu, Jun 19 2014, 11:51 AM
As
a rule, it isn't good when economists use words like "sluggish" and "lackluster,"
the very terms that crept into the opening paragraph of Fredd...
Wed, Jun 18 2014, 11:36 AM
Merlin
Pearson writes, "Statistics are like a lamp post to a drunk. They are
used far more for support than they are for illumination." A survey b...
Tue, Jun 17 2014, 11:19 AM
Building permits were issued in May at a
rate that was 6.4 percent lower than that of April and housing starts also fell. Housing completions were u...
Tue, Jun 17 2014, 11:00 AM
Economists
call it "wage source". In a nutshell, it's how you obtain your cash.
Many work in order to fill their bank accounts; however, in the co...
Tue, Jun 17 2014, 7:42 AM
You have to have an industrial strength juicer and be willing to drink from thimbles if you hope to squeeze any interesting conclusions out of finan...
Mon, Jun 16 2014, 9:45 AM
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, who
tracks population movements (and probably phone conversations too..."who
said that?"), there are a few co...
Thu, Jun 5 2014, 11:10 AM
The Mutual
Mortgage Insurance Fund is a fund that insures mortgages made by the
Federal Housing Administration on single-family homes;
the fun...
Mon, Jun 2 2014, 9:59 AM
There
is a lot of industry banter about preferred lenders (mostly by
non-preferred lenders) and affiliated relationships (mostly by those not
in...
Mon, Jun 2 2014, 2:30 PM
The Census Bureau said today that the
value of all construction put in place in April was up slightly from March and
8.6 percent above totals in A...
Tue, May 27 2014, 12:06 PM
All three home price surveys released this morning showed
prices increased in March, a more moderate improvement than in previous months in
some c...
Mon, May 19 2014, 10:27 AM
People
here at the Secondary Marketing conference are keenly interested in an
insider's view of what the MBA is focused on, and what is causing a ...
Mon, May 19 2014, 1:24 PM
Freddie
Mac's economists used this month's Economic and Housing Market Outlook to look
at three areas of supply and demand.
Analyzing each, they s...
Fri, May 16 2014, 11:56 AM
Both residential permitting and housing
starts increased in April although housing completions lagged behind those in
March the Census Bureau and th...
Fri, May 16 2014, 10:12 AM
The
Census Bureau tells us that American families formed 423,000 new
households during the 12 months ending 3/31/14. 79% of the new
households...
Fri, May 2 2014, 9:52 AM
There's
nothing wrong with early dinners! According to the U.S. Census Bureau, a
meeting with the National Council of Senior Citizens resulted in ...
Thu, May 1 2014, 12:40 PM
Overall construction spending increased slightly in March
the Census Bureau said today. Combined
public and private construction was at a seasona...
Thu, May 1 2014, 12:02 PM
10yr yields had been careful to avoid dipping below yesterday's latest levels until after all of this morning's data was out of the way. Once it was,...
Tue, Apr 29 2014, 3:02 PM
The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Composite Index rose
slightly in February on a seasonally-adjusted basis, beating analysts' expectations by a hair whi...
Mon, Apr 28 2014, 10:04 AM
Another
trend that is winding down in the banking industry is the long period
of Fed Funds at or near 0%. Whether this happens in 2015 or 2016, ke...
Fri, Apr 25 2014, 10:41 AM
David Crowe, Chief Economist of the National
Association of Home Builders (NAHB) told members attending the Association's
2014 Spring Construction...
Thu, Apr 17 2014, 9:50 AM
Home affordability is not a modern problem. In Zillow's In Search of Affordability , Krishna Rao writes, "Across
the United States, strong home p...
Wed, Apr 16 2014, 12:10 PM
Two of the three measures of residential
construction activity used by the Census Bureau fell slightly in March. Fewer permits were issued and few...
Wed, Apr 16 2014, 10:07 AM
People who study mortgage lending and trends continue to ruminate on the Wells Fargo and Chase numbers from Friday.
JPM's mortgage origination vol...
Mon, Apr 14 2014, 9:03 AM
The Fed's comments on housing last week were interesting. "Housing activity
remained slow over the intermeeting period. Although unfavorable weath...
Thu, Apr 10 2014, 10:25 AM
The recent spate of agency news has been interesting to follow.
Arguably F&F should not stay under government conservatorship, but
what are the ...
Tue, Apr 8 2014, 12:30 PM
In a recent blog post written by Molly Boesel CoreLogic
questions the true role of the recent severe weather in a lag in single family
housing sta...
Mon, Apr 7 2014, 10:46 AM
Remember HAMP?
What happens to a sizeable portion of HAMP borrowers after their loan
resets from, say 1% to the current market? They re-default, a...
Fri, Apr 4 2014, 2:20 PM
More potential buyers are out trolling the nation's neighborhoods
for their dream homes. Unfortunately, they are finding little to look at
and, ev...
Tue, Apr 1 2014, 9:59 AM
Fed
watchers over the last few years have had many things to study; on
their list of course has been the FOMC's asset purchase program, and
whil...
