Fri, Apr 26 2019, 7:09 PM
Mortgage rates improved again today, keeping the week-over-week move decidedly friendly. For more on the weekly move, see the in-depth discussion in y...
Fri, Apr 26 2019, 11:44 AM
GDP was hotly anticipated this week and rightfully so. The trading reaction has been the week's most volatile and has carried the most volume. Parad...
Fri, Apr 26 2019, 10:06 AM
Both homeownership and vacancy rates were essentially unchanged in the first quarter of this year according to data released on Thursday by the U.S. C...
Fri, Apr 26 2019, 9:26 AM
M&A is rampant, big and small, and is expected to continue throughout 2019. There’s a constant stream of individual branch or small company moves, but...
Thu, Apr 25 2019, 5:05 PM
The bond market took a pass today as traders generally let supply considerations and positioning rule the day. Supply considerations came courtesy of...
Thu, Apr 25 2019, 4:38 PM
Mortgage rates held fairly steady today with the average lender unchanged to just slightly higher on the day. That's fairly good news considering yest...
Thu, Apr 25 2019, 2:13 PM
Home flipping, buying a property with the intent to sell it in a short period of time at a profit, is more popular than almost ever , but a study by C...
Thu, Apr 25 2019, 10:35 AM
Here's a quick recap of the past year or so. Bond yields were near long-term highs in the first part of 2018 following the passage of the tax bill ...
Thu, Apr 25 2019, 9:22 AM
In low down payment and HFA news, HUD, dba the FHA, has agreed to a 90-day stay in implementation of Mortgagee Letter 19-06 (regarding down payment as...
Thu, Apr 25 2019, 8:14 AM
The declining interest rates earlier in the year along with increased refinancing made themselves felt in March as prepayment activity surged. Black K...
Wed, Apr 24 2019, 5:15 PM
Here come those "global growth concerns" again! It's nothing too huge or scandalous, but today's scorecard offered several anecdotes that fueled a do...
Wed, Apr 24 2019, 4:39 PM
Mortgage rates moved lower at their best pace in several weeks today, with the average lender making it back to levels not seen since April 12th. The ...
Wed, Apr 24 2019, 10:45 AM
Conventional wisdom, according to the Urban Institute (UI), holds that small mortgages are riskier than large ones. That may be one reason that only o...
Wed, Apr 24 2019, 9:19 AM
We can go years at a time without so much as a mention of Australia--at least not as it relates to the global economy. But now for the 2nd time in as...
Wed, Apr 24 2019, 9:08 AM
How often do you buy candles at retailer Pier 1? Me neither. Due to poor earnings Pier 1 Imports announced it will close another 45 stores (up to 150 ...
Wed, Apr 24 2019, 8:11 AM
Rising interest rates continued to take a toll on mortgage applications during the week ended April 19. Even purchase mortgage volume fell victim to t...
Tue, Apr 23 2019, 4:13 PM
With each passing day this week, we're reminded that the most important events are yet to come. In fact, we may well be looking at only one significa...
Tue, Apr 23 2019, 3:42 PM
When bonds make "gains," it means that bond prices are moving up. The price of a bond is like the amount that a lender is willing to pay for the right...
Tue, Apr 23 2019, 11:37 AM
New home sales continued on a winning streak in March , increasing for the third straight month. The U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing ...
Tue, Apr 23 2019, 11:02 AM
The pace of home price appreciation slowed notably in February , at least as reflected in the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA's) House Price In...
Tue, Apr 23 2019, 9:41 AM
Oil is one of the most fundamental economic inputs when it comes to determining costs and thus inflation. Inflation is one of the most fundamental in...
Tue, Apr 23 2019, 8:57 AM
Should small, non-depository mortgage bankers be concerned about big banks renewing their interest in FHA loans? Probably. Bank of America is promotin...
Tue, Apr 23 2019, 8:23 AM
As profit margins have continued to shrink, mortgage lenders have been seeking to utilize technology to reduce their production expenses which involve...
Mon, Apr 22 2019, 5:43 PM
There's age old market wisdom that loosely suggests any given move should be taken more seriously if there's a lot of volume behind it. Deductively, ...
Mon, Apr 22 2019, 4:54 PM
Mortgage rates were higher again on Monday, but just barely. The average lender was still in worse shape on Tuesday or Wednesday of last week when rat...
Mon, Apr 22 2019, 11:53 AM
The question this morning was whether March's existing home sales could build on the strong numbers posted in February, an 11.8 percent increase from ...
Mon, Apr 22 2019, 9:48 AM
Are we or are we not headed toward a global economic contraction in mid-to-late 2019? Or are such things on hold for another year or two? Inquiring ...
Mon, Apr 22 2019, 9:19 AM
Remember NINA loans from 10-15 years ago where the lender would purposely discard anything in the file dealing with income because underwriters didn’t...
Mon, Apr 22 2019, 8:22 AM
For the second month in a row we find ourselves stating that Fannie Mae's forecast , while still predicting a slowdown in economic growth this year, a...
Mon, Apr 22 2019, 8:14 AM
Contrary to expectations, all three of the residential construction measures from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Devel...
Thu, Apr 18 2019, 2:31 PM
Global economic data is big business for the bond market these days. With no end in sight to the domestic economic expansion (note: 1.6% vs 0.9% f'ca...
Thu, Apr 18 2019, 2:06 PM
Mortgage rates have generally been moving higher since March 28th after they bottomed out at the lowest levels in well over a year. At the time, inves...
Thu, Apr 18 2019, 11:01 AM
Continuing declines in interest rates had some impact along the margins of loan originations in March. Ellie Mae's Origination Insight Report for Marc...
Thu, Apr 18 2019, 10:10 AM
Despite the presence of a big economic report like Retail Sales (which came out much higher than expected) or the unique event risk presented by the B...
Thu, Apr 18 2019, 9:15 AM
Experienced originators know that lending is a numbers game. Every 100 cold calls result in 20 conversations, which result in 5 potential leads, which...
Thu, Apr 18 2019, 8:20 AM
Despite their fourth quarter loss reported last month, independent mortgage banks and bank mortgage subsidiaries still managed, albeit barely, to stay...
Wed, Apr 17 2019, 5:06 PM
As feared, bonds were gearing up for the raft of big-ticket economic data in China overnight. On balance, that data was quite a bit better than expec...
Wed, Apr 17 2019, 3:54 PM
Mortgage rates continued higher for the 5th day in a row today. This brings the average lender to the highest levels in exactly one month. At issue: a...
Wed, Apr 17 2019, 10:48 AM
Two New York Federal Reserve Bank economists are asking whether the tax reform act that went into effect at the beginning of 2018 is playing a role in...
Wed, Apr 17 2019, 9:06 AM
Over the years, there have been more times than I can count where the financial media has mistakenly assigned some significance to news or events in C...
Wed, Apr 17 2019, 8:31 AM
Economic doldrums? Probably not – but there is always someone out there claiming dire straits are right around the corner. A CNBC survey of Wall Stree...
Wed, Apr 17 2019, 8:17 AM
It would appear that Refis' time in the sun is listing back towards purchases, as mortgage rates increased for the second straight week and applicatio...
Tue, Apr 16 2019, 5:11 PM
Rates were flat to start the overnight session and didn't bat an eyelash at initial strength in equities markets during Asia-only trading hours. Thin...
Tue, Apr 16 2019, 4:22 PM
Mortgage rates rose again today, albeit at a slightly slower clip compared to yesterday. Still, that's little consolidation considering this is the 4t...
Tue, Apr 16 2019, 10:41 AM
Builder confidence levels as reported by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) remained in the low 60s in April, a space it has now occupie...
Tue, Apr 16 2019, 10:32 AM
Reading the news this morning, I came across multiple articles with such bogus claims that I feel compelled to rant about it here. All of the offen...
Tue, Apr 16 2019, 8:22 AM
Things aren’t always what they seem. Does the mainstream press, or politicians, think about how about how much money it takes to attract top talent to...
Mon, Apr 15 2019, 6:15 PM
What would you expect to care more about Chinese economic data: the US bond market or the Chinese stock market? Option 2? Good, I agree.
Now, if y...
Mon, Apr 15 2019, 5:25 PM
Mortgage rates continued higher to start the week, following a relatively sharp increase on Friday. Interestingly enough, the underlying bond market w...
Mon, Apr 15 2019, 3:48 PM
In an opinion piece published by MarketWatch , the president of the nation's third largest non-bank lender says institutions such as his could find th...
