Tue, Jul 28 2020, 3:42 PM
Nice Recovery But Resistance Remains
Rates were under pressure overnight with 10yr hitting the highest yield...
Tue, Jul 28 2020, 11:53 AM
The U.S. homeownership rate moved significantly higher in the second quarter of 2020, reaching the highest level since the third quarter of 2008 at a ...
Tue, Jul 28 2020, 11:48 AM
Home prices increases slowed slightly in May on both a month-over-month and an annual basis according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices. The U...
Tue, Jul 28 2020, 9:37 AM
I could see that my cat Myrtle was miffed last night. I doubt if it had anything to do with the supply chain issues impacting appliances and new home ...
Tue, Jul 28 2020, 8:57 AM
Today is the second day of this week's prologue. We're getting a sense of the market's underlying biases, but we haven't yet arrived at the bigger-ti...
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...
Mon, Jul 27 2020, 3:26 PM
Bonds Beginning The Week on The Defensive
After weeks of gradual strength in bonds, this week begins with ra...
Mon, Jul 27 2020, 11:39 AM
The National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB') Housing Trends Report for the second quarter of 2020 found slightly less than a quarter of prospect...
Mon, Jul 27 2020, 8:57 AM
In these days when you can’t even get 100% of Americans to agree that water is wet, we have hurricanes, gold prices skyrocketing, COVID relief debates...
Mon, Jul 27 2020, 8:46 AM
As far as weeks with plenty of potentially relevant scheduled events on tap, this one does not disappoint. The only question is how much markets will...
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...
Fri, Jul 24 2020, 4:01 PM
Why The Range Risk in Treasuries Matters to Mortgages
We've been following .58% in 10yr yields for months as...
Fri, Jul 24 2020, 11:00 AM
New Home sales have done it again, rising for the third straight month. The U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development estimat...
Fri, Jul 24 2020, 10:50 AM
It had been threatened from the beginning of the Trump administration, but this week the hammer fell. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development...
Fri, Jul 24 2020, 10:01 AM
I don’t know if there is going to be a pro football season or not, with lines of scrimmage & heavy breathing 11 inches apart for hundreds of linemen e...
Fri, Jul 24 2020, 9:50 AM
Black Knight notes a slight increase in the number of forbearance plans in effect this week even as the number of forborne loans serviced for the GSEs...
Fri, Jul 24 2020, 9:22 AM
There was a time in the very recent past when we could almost completely ignore the implications of 10yr Treasury yield movement on mortgage rates. W...
Fri, Jul 24 2020, 9:02 AM
While serious delinquencies felt the first impact from the COVID-19 pandemic in June, overall delinquencies were actually lower. Black Knight's "first...
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...
Thu, Jul 23 2020, 4:15 PM
Rates Having a Tough Time Breaking Lower, At Least For Now
We've been following .58% in 10yr yields for mont...
Thu, Jul 23 2020, 10:24 AM
The Urban Institute (UI) is speculating that a new penalty imposed on loan originators and arising out of the COVID-19 forbearance plans is beginning ...
Thu, Jul 23 2020, 9:38 AM
Loan officers are known for “holding the hand” of their borrowers. Now Google would like to hold the other. With the help of the CFPB, and launched ye...
Thu, Jul 23 2020, 9:07 AM
We've talked a fair amount about the balance between fundamental and technical analysis recently. These are the two main schools of thought when ...
Wed, Jul 22 2020, 3:27 PM
A Small Risk in a Pile of Good News
For rates and the bond market, the news has been almost exclusively good...
Wed, Jul 22 2020, 11:35 AM
Existing home sales ended a three-month string of losses arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic with a flourish, soaring by 20.7 percent from May to Jun...
Wed, Jul 22 2020, 10:42 AM
House prices fell in May, although they remain well ahead of prices a year earlier. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) said its House Price Ind...
Wed, Jul 22 2020, 9:14 AM
Remember the trade war? That was the thing that singlehandedly caused massive movement in the bond market in 2019. Trade tensions have been mountin...
Wed, Jul 22 2020, 8:17 AM
Even with some interest rates ticking higher, both purchase and refinance activity increased last week. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said it...
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...
Tue, Jul 21 2020, 4:03 PM
"Flat" is an Understatement
Recent trading activity lies in stark contrast to the drama seen earlier in 2020...
Tue, Jul 21 2020, 11:53 AM
One of the trends in attempts to provide more affordable housing is the growth of accessory dwelling units (ADUs) such as granny flats, garage apartme...
Tue, Jul 21 2020, 10:22 AM
Originators, as Deb from Virginia reminded me, are currently like ducks: cool and calm on the surface, paddling frantically underneath. Originators li...
Tue, Jul 21 2020, 9:00 AM
Recent trading activity lies in stark contrast to the drama seen earlier in 2020. Even at the beginning of June, bonds still had an interesting (and ...
Mon, Jul 20 2020, 2:57 PM
How Low Can Rates Eventually Go?
Until further notice, we can expect to see the bond market drift in a fairl...
Mon, Jul 20 2020, 9:40 AM
The bond market begins yet another week with rates in a holding pattern at historic lows. With coronavirus being the primary motivation for rates, it...
Mon, Jul 20 2020, 9:19 AM
After the shaman finished my taxes last week over the phone, we struck up a conversation about working from home, pros and cons, since it appears that...
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...
Fri, Jul 17 2020, 3:06 PM
Very Uneventful Week in The Bigger Picture
Heading into this week, we were hoping to see some consensus betw...
Fri, Jul 17 2020, 11:50 AM
All three measures in the Census Bureaus June residential construction report moved higher , as the building industry continued to recover from its Ap...
Fri, Jul 17 2020, 9:12 AM
Want an estimate of how many borrowers might be out there, benefitting from your assistance by you giving them a lower rate (assuming they, and the pr...
Fri, Jul 17 2020, 8:59 AM
One of the market themes that has been most noticeable and most reliable post-covid is that of the "stock lever"--our in-house term for the phenomenon...
Fri, Jul 17 2020, 8:52 AM
The interest rates on mortgage loans that closed in June averaged 3.40 percent, down 3 basis points from the average in May according to Ellie Mae's O...
Fri, Jul 17 2020, 8:37 AM
There was another decline in forbearance starts this past week and the number of loans in active plans also fell for the third straight week. Black Kn...
Thu, Jul 16 2020, 4:29 PM
The House Financial Service Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing on Thursday entitled, "Protecting Homeowners Durin...
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...
Thu, Jul 16 2020, 3:31 PM
The Downside of Ultra Low Rates
Actions and reactions are as true in the bond market as in the natural world...
Thu, Jul 16 2020, 10:33 AM
Economists talk about the potential for a V shaped recovery from the pandemic and that is exactly the pattern displayed by the National Association of...
Thu, Jul 16 2020, 8:58 AM
I was on the phone yesterday with my psychic who told me, “You will live a long and healthy life if you abstain from anything that brings you joy.” Ok...
Thu, Jul 16 2020, 8:31 AM
It used to be that rate watchers and mortgage originators could simply tune in to the economic data on any given day and expect a fairly logical and...
Wed, Jul 15 2020, 3:27 PM
Stocks and Bonds Confirm Hyperfocus on Covid Outlook
Coronavirus has been with us for so long and has caused...
