Fri, Oct 9 2020, 4:59 PM
The bond market, which drives interest rates, is in the habit of reacting to big developments that impact the economy and inflation. At present, bonds...
Thu, Oct 8 2020, 3:53 PM
After rising at a medium-quick pace to begin the week, the past 3 days have been much calmer by comparison for mortgage rates . Today was the best exa...
Wed, Oct 7 2020, 4:42 PM
This morning's weekly survey data from the Mortgage Bankers Association showed a nice increase in refinance applications offset by a smaller decrease ...
Tue, Oct 6 2020, 4:20 PM
After falling moderately to start the week, mortgage rates put in a calmer performance on Tuesday. As we discussed yesterday, volatility in the bond m...
Mon, Oct 5 2020, 4:14 PM
Mortgage rates have been spoiled, relatively, by an extraordinarily calm/narrow trading pattern in the bond market. That's important because the bond ...
Thu, Oct 1 2020, 5:28 PM
Mortgage rates were mixed today, depending on the lender. The underlying bond market (which dictates day to day changes in rates) has been more volati...
Wed, Sep 30 2020, 4:38 PM
Mortgage rates don't just magically appear . Lenders don't choose them arbitrarily. To sustain the pace and scope of the mortgage market in the US (an...
Tue, Sep 29 2020, 3:59 PM
The average mortgage lender continues to offer top tier conventional 30yr fixed rates in the "high 2% to low 3%" neighborhood. Exactly where any given...
Fri, Sep 25 2020, 3:50 PM
Mortgage Rate Update Considering this week's generally positive drift in rates, we shouldn't expect lenders to get less busy any time soon. In recent ...
Wed, Sep 23 2020, 4:16 PM
Mortgage rates didn't do much today. The average lender was effectively unchanged from yesterday. The same could be said yesterday, and the day before...
Tue, Sep 22 2020, 4:55 PM
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are the two government sponsored agencies that guarantee timely payment of principal and interest to the investors who fron...
Fri, Sep 18 2020, 5:38 PM
Mortgage rates are most influenced by the bond market and the bond market is most influenced by the Federal Reserve (aka "The Fed"). So when the Fed s...
Thu, Sep 17 2020, 4:56 PM
Yesterday's policy announcement from the Federal Reserve had a chance to cause significant volatility for the bond market and the bond market is the c...
Tue, Sep 15 2020, 4:21 PM
What will the Fed do to mortgage rates ? This is actually a bit of a trick question . The Fed doesn't set mortgage rates. The Fed's policy rate applie...
Fri, Sep 11 2020, 5:10 PM
If you're in the mortgage process currently or if you will be soon, there is a tremendously important development to be aware of. The net effect is th...
Thu, Sep 10 2020, 6:03 PM
It's Thursday and thus time, once again, for the weekly mortgage rate survey from Freddie Mac. News organizations and even some bond market strategist...
Wed, Sep 9 2020, 3:44 PM
Mortgage rates haven't moved much so far this week and they were surprisingly steady at the end of last week despite volatility in the underlying bond...
Fri, Sep 4 2020, 4:25 PM
Almost everywhere you look, low mortgage rates are in the news. Experts are claiming they'll remain low or move lower for years to come. They might be...
Thu, Sep 3 2020, 3:41 PM
Mortgage rates have improved nicely over the past week. While a lot of this improvement is due to the delay of the new refinance fee announced earlier...
Wed, Sep 2 2020, 3:57 PM
Mortgage rates have improved noticeably in the past few business days, largely due to the delay of a new fee announced earlier this month. Ironically,...
Tue, Sep 1 2020, 4:22 PM
For most lenders, mortgage rates improved again today, adding to the 3-week lows achieved yesterday. We normally view mortgage rate movement primarily...
Mon, Aug 31 2020, 3:47 PM
Mortgage rates improved nicely today with the average lender more convincingly back under the 3.0% threshold for conventional 30yr fixed scenarios. In...
Fri, Aug 28 2020, 4:55 PM
Mortgage rates didn't move much today, and the direction of that movement depends greatly on how any given lender reacted to the week's big news from ...
Thu, Aug 27 2020, 3:46 PM
Let's keep this short and simple. There are some major misconceptions out there today and for many of you, it's very important to address them. What a...
Wed, Aug 26 2020, 4:05 PM
With several major developments and interesting milestones in the mortgage world, I'm seeing a lot more confusion than normal. So let's clear it up wi...
Tue, Aug 25 2020, 4:28 PM
Two weeks ago, Fannie and Freddie announced a new guaranty fee (aka "g-fee") for virtually all refinances. To say this has been a hot topic for the mo...
Fri, Aug 21 2020, 5:18 PM
Several new reports confirm the housing market is soaring right now, but the headlines don't tell the whole story. On Friday, the National Association...
Thu, Aug 20 2020, 4:58 PM
Mortgage rates moved a bit lower today, on average, but that's not what most of the mortgage-related headlines are saying today. Reason being, journal...
Wed, Aug 19 2020, 3:43 PM
Mortgage rates are still coping with the after-effects of last week's surprise implementation of a new fee on refinances. The fee in question is techn...
Mon, Aug 17 2020, 4:30 PM
Mortgage rates managed to improve modestly for the average lender today, but they remain significantly higher than they were before last week's regula...
Fri, Aug 14 2020, 5:46 PM
Some mortgage companies have generated buzz by advertising 30yr fixed rates of 1.99%. While it is possible to obtain such a rate, there is definitely ...
Thu, Aug 13 2020, 6:04 PM
At face value, the bonds that underlie the mortgage market didn't sustain too much damage today. If there was nothing else to inspire lender rate chan...
Wed, Aug 12 2020, 9:04 PM
In what can only be described as a cash grab, Fannie and Freddie's regulator just announced a new tax on refinances. Granted, it's not technically a t...
Wed, Aug 12 2020, 4:56 PM
Mortgage rates jumped yesterday at the fastest pace in more than 2 months. While that isn't necessarily the end of the world when a 30yr fixed can sti...
Tue, Aug 11 2020, 5:10 PM
With most lenders still easily able to quote a 30yr fixed under 3% , mortgage rates are very low in outright terms. But relative to the recent trend a...
Thu, Aug 6 2020, 5:05 PM
There are quite a few more new stories than normal about mortgage rates today. Most of them are wrong. This one is not, and it's pretty easy to see wh...
Wed, Aug 5 2020, 5:18 PM
Mortgage rates cooled off today, rising for the first time since July 27th for the average lender. Between now and then we've seen a string of what ha...
Tue, Aug 4 2020, 4:51 PM
Mortgage rates are on a tear, with the average lender easily hitting new all-time lows today. How low is that? At this point it's safe to say that any...
Fri, Jul 31 2020, 5:09 PM
Mortgage rates have fallen more aggressively than ever and they've been remarkably willing to set record after record. So is there any reason you shou...
Wed, Jul 29 2020, 4:34 PM
Mortgage rates improved nicely overnight. The average lender's morning rates were very close to the lowest levels ever . This was a distinct possibili...
Tue, Jul 28 2020, 5:05 PM
Mortgage rates did something over the past 3 days that they haven't done since early June . They moved sideways to slightly higher ! At the same time,...
Mon, Jul 27 2020, 4:58 PM
Mortgage rates have been falling so much and with such regularity in 2020 that there's scarcely been a reason (or even an opportunity) to talk about a...
Fri, Jul 24 2020, 4:16 PM
The bond market saw yet another week with rates in a holding pattern at historic lows. With coronavirus being the primary motivation for rates, it wou...
Thu, Jul 23 2020, 5:01 PM
Mortgage rates improved almost imperceptibly this morning compared to yesterday afternoon. With that, the average lender was just a hair below the pre...
Tue, Jul 21 2020, 4:25 PM
Mortgage rates have been holding a very narrow range since July 9th. They also hit new all-time lows on July 9th. A few of the days since then have be...
Fri, Jul 17 2020, 4:46 PM
Markets continue to focus on coronavirus numbers first and foremost. When the news is good , we tend to see stocks and rates move higher. When the new...
Thu, Jul 16 2020, 3:59 PM
Mortgage rates moved lower this morning as lenders got caught up with recent improvement in the bond market. The bond market is the primary considerat...
Tue, Jul 14 2020, 4:56 PM
Mortgage rates recovered to some extent today, after moving slightly higher on Friday and yesterday. The bond market (which underlies rate movement) w...
Fri, Jul 10 2020, 4:46 PM
It should no longer come as a surprise that the pandemic continues to create never-before-seen circumstances in all corners of society. Here in the ho...
Thu, Jul 9 2020, 4:25 PM
There are two kinds of headlines about mortgage rates today: those that rely on the weekly survey-based data published each Thursday by Freddie Mac, a...
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