Wed, Apr 22 2020, 10:56 AM
In its early April survey of builders for its Housing Market Index the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) added questions about the impact o...
Wed, Apr 22 2020, 10:52 AM
House price growth continued to accelerate through February on the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA's) Housing Price Index with the U.S. index p...
Wed, Apr 22 2020, 10:01 AM
While in captivity it is important to amuse oneself . And here’s a tender song – the video is only 30 seconds. By the way, the residential industry is...
Wed, Apr 22 2020, 9:36 AM
While there may be a good amount of drama and suspense when it comes to watching coronavirus take its toll on the economy, there's no mystery. This ...
Wed, Apr 22 2020, 8:26 AM
Purchase application volume was up slightly last week, the first gain since early March. Refinancing and overall volume, however, were flat. The Mortg...
Tue, Apr 21 2020, 12:31 PM
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has clarified the obligations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's (the GSEs') servicers to investors during the ...
Tue, Apr 21 2020, 11:33 AM
Existing home sales fell back last month from their unexpectedly good performance in February, but still maintained their long record of annual increa...
Tue, Apr 21 2020, 10:17 AM
There are now two entities tracking forbearance statistics on a regular basis, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) and Black Knight. The informatio...
Tue, Apr 21 2020, 9:58 AM
Another stimulus package is in the headlines but no one is talking about inflation being a concern with near-term oil futures prices actually below ze...
Tue, Apr 21 2020, 9:22 AM
Given that yields are in an extremely low range with no past precedent, it's easy to glance at the chart, shrug one's shoulders, and conclude "oh well...
Tue, Apr 21 2020, 8:28 AM
Single-family homes now provide half of all rental units in the U.S. CoreLogic's Single Family Rental Index (SFRI) recorded an annual gain of 3.3 perc...
Mon, Apr 20 2020, 5:56 PM
While the industry has come to terms with recent challenges in terms of day-to-day volatility, mortgage rates remain higher than they otherwise would ...
Mon, Apr 20 2020, 9:53 AM
This week is relatively limited in terms of economic data. We will get our first look at big home sales reports for March (both "New" and "Existing")...
Mon, Apr 20 2020, 9:31 AM
As oil prices plummet this morning, while in captivity, uninterrupted sleep is a good thing. I know for a fact that the staff of the Mortgage Bankers ...
Fri, Apr 17 2020, 6:22 PM
Mortgage rates continue showing a willingness to play by at least a few of the same rules that typically apply. Most of the rules went out the window ...
Fri, Apr 17 2020, 3:21 PM
There was a sharp sell-off in the bond market on Friday afternoon--at least relative to the day's relatively calm trading patterns--as the Fed once ag...
Fri, Apr 17 2020, 1:33 PM
It is only a little more than a month into the COVID-19 crisis, but mortgage forbearances are already adding up. Black Knight has begun tracking that ...
Fri, Apr 17 2020, 12:59 PM
Fannie Mae's April Economic Developments summary is, like Freddie Mac's, relatively optimistic only because they see the impact of the pandemic as bei...
Fri, Apr 17 2020, 9:46 AM
If I accidentally jinxed it, the damage was already done in yesterday's MBS Huddle video, so we might as well talk about it. "Talk about what," you m...
Fri, Apr 17 2020, 9:28 AM
Declining interest rates in March pushed the refinance share of closed loans higher again according to information in Ellie Mae's March Origination In...
Fri, Apr 17 2020, 9:10 AM
While in captivity, watching the time, and waiting for release , can seem like forever. We’re always waiting for something, whether it is the CFPB rol...
Thu, Apr 16 2020, 1:44 PM
Is it possible that home buyers are adjusting more quickly to this brave new virus-driven world than was hoped? Will Americans now do the whole home p...
Thu, Apr 16 2020, 10:41 AM
While the March residential construction report from the U.S Census Bureau is grim, one can find a small glimmer of optimism in the fact that, while h...
Thu, Apr 16 2020, 10:25 AM
Coronavirus has made for some of the biggest market movement and volatility in the history of financial markets. It's also resulted in a wide range o...
Thu, Apr 16 2020, 9:16 AM
Unlike 2008, when, arguably, the lenders, banks, and investment banks, via lending & underwriting policies and lax securitization procedures, were the...
Wed, Apr 15 2020, 5:16 PM
Mortgage rates had a reasonably calm and logical day--not something we've been able to say very often recently. It was calm in the sense that today's ...
Wed, Apr 15 2020, 1:15 PM
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) have made arrangements to share information during the C...
Wed, Apr 15 2020, 10:42 AM
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) said its Housing Market Index (HMI), which it sponsors jointly with Wells Fargo, suffered the largest...
Wed, Apr 15 2020, 9:25 AM
While in captivity sometimes it is difficult social distancing . Working from home, and having video meetings, takes some getting used to. I was telli...
Wed, Apr 15 2020, 8:50 AM
Even though many were probably doing it on their phone or tablet while sitting at their kitchen tables, Americans were busy submitting applications to...
Wed, Apr 15 2020, 8:29 AM
There's no question that financial markets have done a great deal to price-in the anticipated economic impact of coronavirus, but have they done enoug...
Tue, Apr 14 2020, 4:54 PM
Mortgage rates were moderately to significantly higher today depending on the lender, the program, and on one's own definition of words like "moderate...
Tue, Apr 14 2020, 11:09 AM
There's a bit of 20/20 hindsight in the observation that MBS strength could/should only last for so long before experiencing a bit of a correction. I...
Tue, Apr 14 2020, 10:48 AM
Freddie Mac's Quarterly Forecast is more upbeat than one might expect . While it acknowledges that, with big chunks of the U.S. economy currently in l...
Tue, Apr 14 2020, 10:13 AM
Bill M. sent, “It's not at all boring to stay in the house. But how come one bag of rice has 22,373 grains and the other bag 24,201?” Yes, things have...
Mon, Apr 13 2020, 5:38 PM
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) says the surge in unemployment claims filed since mid-March resulting from the mitigation efforts to slow the s...
Mon, Apr 13 2020, 5:06 PM
Mortgage rates have been volatile and unpredictable to say the least. Some of this has to do with overall market volatility surrounding the market's r...
Mon, Apr 13 2020, 11:49 AM
In this third article summarizing an analysis by Black Knight of the potential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic housing the company looks at mortgage ...
Mon, Apr 13 2020, 10:20 AM
It was a rough weekend. The still in our basement blew up, throwing potatoes everywhere and setting us back weeks. That happened just as I was sending...
Mon, Apr 13 2020, 10:10 AM
Markets have already shown how well they understand the uniquely massive economic toll taken by coronavirus. That's why we're able to see things like...
Mon, Apr 13 2020, 8:28 AM
The list of things for the housing industry to worry about in the current COVID-19 emergency has been growing steadily over the last few weeks, but a ...
Mon, Apr 13 2020, 8:20 AM
Millennials have lagged most of their predecessor generations in terms of their homeownership rate but when they did begin to buy, they become the fas...
Fri, Apr 10 2020, 2:18 PM
Just as the mortgage industry was coming to terms with unprecedented market volatility due to coronavirus, the details of the CARES Act (the coronavir...
Thu, Apr 9 2020, 3:37 PM
The Fed announced new lending programs totaling $2.3 trillion this morning. The Fed had recently alluded to "additional tools" at its disposal to sup...
Thu, Apr 9 2020, 11:15 AM
Realtors don't expect the 2020 "spring market" is going to happen, but they are optimistic there will be a post-pandemic rebound driven by delayed dem...
Thu, Apr 9 2020, 10:56 AM
As the market looks at this morning’s Federal Reserve huge aid package announcement, while in captivity/quarantivity, testing yourself is important . ...
Wed, Apr 8 2020, 12:08 PM
Any discussion about the challenges faced by a particular industry or even by a particular household requires the same acknowledgement right up front...
Wed, Apr 8 2020, 11:33 AM
American's attitudes regarding buying and selling homes and about their own financial outlook made an abrupt U-turn last month and Fannie Mae's Home P...
Wed, Apr 8 2020, 9:22 AM
While in captivity it is important to keep calm . “Many parents are discovering that the teacher was not the problem.” One of the kids next door phone...
Wed, Apr 8 2020, 8:24 AM
The negative effects of the COVID-19 epidemic appear to have set in last week as mortgage applications, which had managed to increase even after much ...
