Thu, Jun 21 2018, 5:35 PM
Mortgage rates were microscopically higher today, which is paradoxical on two levels. The first paradox has to do with today's bond market improvement...
Thu, Jun 21 2018, 5:31 PM
Grandparents will always have at least a few stories about "the way things used to be." Those old ways may seem inefficient, strange, wonderful , or...
Thu, Jun 21 2018, 10:26 AM
There has been a lot of hand-wringing for going on two years or so about the incredible shrinking inventory of homes for sale . This week CoreLogic an...
Thu, Jun 21 2018, 9:50 AM
By now, it's no great secret that pundits, analysts, and financial firm principals are pontificating on the next economic downturn. Guesses vary, b...
Thu, Jun 21 2018, 9:46 AM
There was another 0.1 percent increase in the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA's) House Price Index (HPI) in April. The index, which is calculat...
Thu, Jun 21 2018, 9:07 AM
Huh? Rumors again that FHLB Atlanta is exiting the HFLB Xtra mortgage program effective at the end of this year? Who can keep track of all the rumored...
Thu, Jun 21 2018, 8:04 AM
Loans for home purchasing continue to dominate mortgage originations and Ellie Mae says they may now represent the largest share of loans since the re...
Wed, Jun 20 2018, 7:04 PM
Before the Italy drama picked up at the end of May, bonds were very much on the bad side of the fence. Italy quickly punted rates to the other side ...
Wed, Jun 20 2018, 4:48 PM
Mortgage rates moved modestly higher today after holding in roughly the same territory for the past 3 days. This brings them back in line with last Th...
Wed, Jun 20 2018, 10:55 AM
Analysts were expecting existing home sales to rebound in May after they fell behind year-ago levels in April. However, the National Association of Re...
Wed, Jun 20 2018, 10:06 AM
I talk quite a bit about the " long-term trend " or the "longer-term trend" these days. It most frequently comes up in some iteration of the followin...
Wed, Jun 20 2018, 8:59 AM
onight/tomorrow morning is the summer solstice. I am in Minneapolis at an ACUMA workshop and where the sun will set tonight at 9:03. (I suppose ACUMA ...
Wed, Jun 20 2018, 8:16 AM
Mortgage interest rates waffled, moving in different directions depending on the product last week, but the volume of mortgage applications increased ...
Tue, Jun 19 2018, 4:15 PM
June began with yields plateauing after rising from the Italy-inspired lows of late May. 10yr yields managed to avoid breaking above 3% until last we...
Tue, Jun 19 2018, 3:19 PM
Mortgage rates didn't move much today, despite a somewhat decent improvement in bond markets. Overnight, trade war brinksmanship between the US and Ch...
Tue, Jun 19 2018, 11:27 AM
The White House announced on Monday the nomination of Kathy Kraninger as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to replace acting dir...
Tue, Jun 19 2018, 9:59 AM
Residential construction data was mixed for May as reported on Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. ...
Tue, Jun 19 2018, 8:59 AM
When I grow up I want to live in a ranch style… shipping container? If you have a builder complaining about lumber costs or labor to frame a house, th...
Tue, Jun 19 2018, 8:57 AM
You're welcome! I knew if I lamented the slow and boring nature of the week ahead yesterday that I could trick the bond market into doing something ...
Tue, Jun 19 2018, 8:35 AM
Despite a slowing rate of economic growth in the second estimate for the first quarter, Fannie Mae's economists are holding firm in their forecast for...
Mon, Jun 18 2018, 4:30 PM
These sorts of days (where nothing happens) happen. If you had to bet on a day of the week and a time of year to see them, Summertime Mondays would p...
Mon, Jun 18 2018, 3:58 PM
Mortgage rates were sideways to slightly higher today, depending on the lender. The underlying bond market (which dictates rates) was exceptionally qu...
Mon, Jun 18 2018, 10:22 AM
Builder confidence in the market for new single-family homes ended a three-month slide in May , as the Housing Market Index ticked up two points. This...
Mon, Jun 18 2018, 9:16 AM
Post-Italian drama, bond yields rose for 2 straight weeks heading into last week's Fed and ECB announcements. They both proved friendly and the pos...
Mon, Jun 18 2018, 8:51 AM
Rumors continue to swirl. Will a top-10 bank really terminate hundreds, possibly a thousand, of its retail originators in late July/early August for n...
Mon, Jun 18 2018, 8:27 AM
Americans are sitting on a nearly unprecedented level of untapped wealth - or maybe sitting IN it is more to the point. A report from Black Knight not...
Fri, Jun 15 2018, 5:35 PM
Fresh fears of trade wars pushed stocks and bond yields lower in the overnight session as the White House promised another wave of tariff announcemen...
Fri, Jun 15 2018, 5:22 PM
Mortgage rates fell again today, bringing the average rate just slightly lower on the week. Unlike the past 2 days, there were no big ticket calendar ...
Fri, Jun 15 2018, 9:37 AM
Bond markets have their rally caps on after making it through both central bank announcements this week without suffering any crazy damage. In fact...
Fri, Jun 15 2018, 8:59 AM
Taking a tour around the nation…No one has ever used the term “bespoke” in describing any place I’ve stayed. I barely know what it means. But if you’v...
Thu, Jun 14 2018, 4:15 PM
We knew the ECB (European Central Bank) was going to have to address its bond buying program soon, because it expires after September. Several speake...
Thu, Jun 14 2018, 3:22 PM
Mortgage rates moved LOWER today, following a policy announcement from the European Central Bank (ECB). That claim runs counter to almost any other mo...
Thu, Jun 14 2018, 2:24 PM
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is projecting a decline in new home sales in May. Its computation is based on information from its Builder Appl...
Thu, Jun 14 2018, 9:00 AM
Today's domestic session begins with a positive reaction to the European Central Bank (ECB) announcement. The ECB broke from tradition by dropping ...
Thu, Jun 14 2018, 8:53 AM
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects increasing customer usage of technology will reduce the number of bank tellers by 42,000 through 2026. Gi...
Wed, Jun 13 2018, 5:52 PM
In one sentence, today's Fed rate forecasts pushed bonds into weaker territory at 2pm and Jerome Powell's press conference helped to recover most of...
Wed, Jun 13 2018, 5:18 PM
Mortgage rates moved higher today, following the Fed's much-anticipated policy announcement. Although the Fed changed quite a few words from the annou...
Wed, Jun 13 2018, 2:05 PM
Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in March May indicates that the labor market has continued to strengthen and that ...
Wed, Jun 13 2018, 10:39 AM
Last week the Mortgage Bankers Association said that independent mortgage bankers had reported negative production revenue in the first quarter of thi...
Wed, Jun 13 2018, 9:09 AM
"The dots" refer to the Fed's periodically updated economic projections.
"Periodically, " in this case, means 4 times a year out of the 8 annual ...
Wed, Jun 13 2018, 8:56 AM
Lenders aren’t likely to eliminate their owners or senior management, nor do they want to eliminate producers (who are meeting minimum thresholds) or ...
Wed, Jun 13 2018, 8:06 AM
The flurry of mortgage activity during the week ended June 1st didn't last long. Application volume resumed its months-long retreat last week as inter...
Tue, Jun 12 2018, 5:11 PM
Today turned out to be a dud, thanks to a completely uneventful CPI reading as well as a right-down-the-middle 30yr bond auction. Neither of these ...
Tue, Jun 12 2018, 4:41 PM
Mortgage rates didn't move much today. That keeps them in line with some of the highest levels in nearly 7 years, though the same could be said for a ...
Tue, Jun 12 2018, 11:55 AM
An increase availability of high balance loans helped drive the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA's) Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI) to a ...
Tue, Jun 12 2018, 9:46 AM
Bonds are starting the day in a slightly weaker stance yet again. While we managed to come back from a weaker start yesterday, it's worth checking in...
Tue, Jun 12 2018, 9:13 AM
Some banks have concluded they will have to support Libor after 2021 , when alternative rates are in place. The banks hope to avoid disruption from a ...
Mon, Jun 11 2018, 4:29 PM
As the value of residential real estate rises with home prices, so has the owner's equity share of that value. Jing Fu, writing in the National Associ...
Mon, Jun 11 2018, 4:17 PM
History suggests that Fed/ECB meetings in June are more than up to the task of causing significant volatility in bond markets. It also suggests tha...
Mon, Jun 11 2018, 3:49 PM
Mortgage rates edged up to the highest levels in several weeks today. Only a handful of days from mid-May stand between current levels and the highest...
