Fri, Aug 21 2020, 11:38 AM
Existing-home sales posted a second month of significant sales gains in July, building on a record 20.7 percent increase in June. The National Associa...
Fri, Aug 21 2020, 11:29 AM
The financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are beginning to emerge and while it appears the crisis initially hit homeowners hard, the duration of ...
Fri, Aug 21 2020, 10:13 AM
RCIII writes, “I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for some precedented times.” But Tom Petty wrote, “Well, the good old days, may not return… And t...
Fri, Aug 21 2020, 9:19 AM
Coronavirus obviously ushered in an era of record low rates. The ongoing challenges and uncertainties are fairly well understood. They have a wide s...
Thu, Aug 20 2020, 6:15 PM
Robert Dietz, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has provided a couple of updates on housing construction trends tak...
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...
Thu, Aug 20 2020, 4:49 PM
MBS Underperforming Treasuries, But Broader Trends Are Decent
The mortgage market continues coping with the ...
Thu, Aug 20 2020, 10:01 AM
Realistically, Europe has been as big of a friend to US bond markets as the Fed. If it weren't for Greek concerns and the mounting systemic crisis, U...
Thu, Aug 20 2020, 9:06 AM
In these times that lenders describe as busy, profitable, and overheated, capital markets personnel are focused on margin & capacity management, staff...
Wed, Aug 19 2020, 4:43 PM
Fed Minutes and LLPA Hangover Hurting Rates
Mortgage rates have been quite rebellious in 2020 when it comes ...
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...
Wed, Aug 19 2020, 11:48 AM
Refinance loans continued to dominate mortgage originations in July, but the gap with purchase loans is closing. Ellie Mae's Origination Insight Repor...
Wed, Aug 19 2020, 9:58 AM
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is proposing a new category of qualified mortgage (QM) which it says is intended to "encourage innovat...
Wed, Aug 19 2020, 9:21 AM
Three weeks ago the Commentary included a webcam shot of Warrior Canine Connection’s Puppy Cam . (They’ve grown. Rated PG, depending on what they’re u...
Wed, Aug 19 2020, 9:02 AM
I talked yesterday about rates "reconnecting with the bond market," and that's an assertion that needs some more clarification on several levels. By ...
Wed, Aug 19 2020, 8:27 AM
Mortgage rates rose during the week ending August 14 and, while purchase applications sustained some of their momentum, a slowdown in refinancing pull...
Tue, Aug 18 2020, 4:55 PM
Rates Are Reconnecting With Bond Market Movement
After last week's LLPA news, lenders pulled back pricing fo...
Tue, Aug 18 2020, 10:53 AM
Residential construction rates soared in July with both permits and starts increasing from their June pace by double digits and topping 2019 numbers f...
Tue, Aug 18 2020, 10:20 AM
“Last night I was a hero! I rescued some beer that was trapped in a bottle.” All of our lives are changing, and thank you to Lydia O. for sending alon...
Tue, Aug 18 2020, 9:29 AM
It's age-old conventional wisdom. Buy stocks, sell bonds, vice versa, risk-on vs risk-off. One of the most common questions I receive over the years...
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...
Mon, Aug 17 2020, 4:06 PM
At the midway point of the current (3 rd ) quarter Fannie Mae is looking for a huge improvement in the gross domestic product (GDP). The company's Eco...
Mon, Aug 17 2020, 3:57 PM
Mortgage Market Looking For a Better Week For Two Reasons
Last week was unpleasant in the mortgage world, to...
Mon, Aug 17 2020, 10:21 AM
Builders have tied their 32-year old record for confidence as measured by the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (...
Mon, Aug 17 2020, 10:13 AM
Out in California and parts of the West it’s “hotter than Satan’s house cat.” California is once again having rolling power outages, and an opinion pi...
Mon, Aug 17 2020, 9:25 AM
Last week was unpleasant in the mortgage world, to say the least. Rates suffered a double whammy due to the surprise 50bp LLPA on refis and the trend ...
Fri, Aug 14 2020, 9:27 PM
With rates near all-time lows, millions of homeowners are frantically refinancing. Borrowers often think the only pertinent question is “ how much can...
Fri, Aug 14 2020, 5:47 PM
Boring Day For Bonds, But Tension Remains For Mortgages
Rates continued reeling (depending on the lender) fr...
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 ...
Fri, Aug 14 2020, 10:11 AM
Hundreds of thousands of people in the lending industry, their borrowers, and vendors are grappling with the refi price hit announced Wednesday evenin...
Fri, Aug 14 2020, 10:05 AM
Two entities, Black Knight and the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) have been tracking loans in forbearance plans since the start of the pandemic. T...
Fri, Aug 14 2020, 9:57 AM
First thing's first, any conversation about rates in a mortgage market context would be incomplete without considering this week's regulatory drama. ...
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...
Thu, Aug 13 2020, 5:42 PM
Mortgage Market Rocked by Instant Doubling of Regulatory Fees
Consider this: the average guaranty fee (charg...
Thu, Aug 13 2020, 12:14 PM
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is predicting another strong month for new home sales. The association says its Builder Application Survey (BAS...
Thu, Aug 13 2020, 12:14 PM
This began as my normal daily "day ahead" article, but as you can see based on the time of day and the following content, it turned into something els...
Thu, Aug 13 2020, 10:39 AM
Follow the money! The “talking heads” are analyzing the fact that President Donald Trump donated $6,000 to Kamala Harris' 2014 campaign for reelection...
Thu, Aug 13 2020, 8:15 AM
Home prices continued to rise during the second quarter of the year, although at a slower pace than before the advent of the pandemic. The National As...
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, 8:59 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 ...
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...
Wed, Aug 12 2020, 3:33 PM
Bond Market Breakout is Here (The Bad One)
For days--and especially since last Friday--we've been increasing...
Wed, Aug 12 2020, 9:55 AM
There is a ton of uncertainty about rates and the economy in the bigger picture. That uncertainty jives with a broad sideways trend in an all-time lo...
Wed, Aug 12 2020, 9:05 AM
Dating in college is a matter of many things. I mention this because I wondered what colleges were recommending about COVID, and the University of Geo...
Wed, Aug 12 2020, 8:52 AM
Refinancing rebooted again last week, driving overall mortgage applications volume higher after two weeks of dwindling volume. The Mortgage Bankers As...
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...
Tue, Aug 11 2020, 4:23 PM
Bond Market Breakout is Here (The Bad One)
For days--and especially since last Friday--we've been increasing...
Tue, Aug 11 2020, 11:22 AM
COVID-19 continued to impact mortgage performance in May. CoreLogic said the number of loans in each stage of delinquency, with the exception of those...
Tue, Aug 11 2020, 10:12 AM
For days--and especially since last Friday--we've been increasingly worried that the 2-month bond rally was running out of steam and at risk of a reve...
Tue, Aug 11 2020, 9:40 AM
Me: “I want to travel.” Bank account: “Where? To work?” Think of people in their 20s and 30s. They’ve grown up with 9/11, the Financial Crisis, and no...
