Thu, May 3 2018, 9:10 AM
Moody’s addresses what every LO knows – the next area of “opportunity” in the mortgage market: next area of “opportunity” in the mortgage market : cas...
Thu, May 3 2018, 8:54 AM
There has been at least some amount of correlation between stocks and bond yields in 2018 inasmuch as the major lows for stocks in Feb and April coi...
Wed, May 2 2018, 4:27 PM
We'll give Friday a pass because it was technically still part of the 2-day correction leading back from the 4-year highs in the 10yr Treasury yield s...
Wed, May 2 2018, 3:58 PM
Mortgage rates were flat to slightly higher today, depending on the lender. The average lender was quoting the same rates as yesterday, but with sligh...
Wed, May 2 2018, 2:02 PM
Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in January March indicates that the labor market has continued to strengthen and t...
Wed, May 2 2018, 12:27 PM
Affordable housing isn't just a problem in high cost places like New York City and San Francisco according to a new study by the Urban Institute (UI) ...
Wed, May 2 2018, 9:22 AM
The volume of both purchase and refinancing applications moved lower last week , The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said its Market Composite Inde...
Wed, May 2 2018, 9:15 AM
Greetings from the American Mortgage Conference in Pinehurst, NC! Fun with numbers: A penny is about 1/16 of an inch, or 192 per foot. A mile is 5,280...
Wed, May 2 2018, 9:09 AM
There's a fair amount on the calendar today from an objective standpoint. The 3 headliners are ADP Employment, the Treasury refunding announcement an...
Tue, May 1 2018, 5:10 PM
The Day Ahead discussed the year's previous closing high of 2.95% in 10yr yields. It hadn't come into play too terribly much until the past 3 session...
Tue, May 1 2018, 3:28 PM
Mortgage rates moved higher on average today, although a few lenders were better characterized as "unchanged." In either case, if you're shopping for ...
Tue, May 1 2018, 1:02 PM
The construction spending report for March was a bit of a jolt , especially given the reason for the unexpected decline . Some significant softness in...
Tue, May 1 2018, 11:16 AM
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Fox Business News on Monday, that changing the current status of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae is something that h...
Tue, May 1 2018, 9:16 AM
May Day – how are we 1/3 of the way through 2018 already?! Folks are gearing up for this month’s MBA National Secondary conference in Manhattan. (Jung...
Tue, May 1 2018, 9:13 AM
2.95% was the closing high for 10yr yields back in late February. While we saw 10s move as low as 2.935 yesterday, that seemed to be a product of mon...
Mon, Apr 30 2018, 4:36 PM
April was a bummer of a month for the bond market. Actually, it was decent through the 11th, but it got ugly quickly after that--especially during th...
Mon, Apr 30 2018, 3:48 PM
Mortgage rates didn't move much today , which keeps them right in line with last week's lowest levels. That sounds pretty good! Unfortunately, any tim...
Mon, Apr 30 2018, 10:34 AM
It wasn't much of a gain , even missing analysts' predictions, but given the recent performance of the Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI), any positive c...
Mon, Apr 30 2018, 9:42 AM
This week brings several top tier economic reports as well as a Fed announcement. Combine that with today's month-end trading process, it makes for a...
Mon, Apr 30 2018, 9:11 AM
Demographics will tell you that it makes more sense organizing populations by how they live – rather than where they live – is a much more precise way...
Fri, Apr 27 2018, 6:53 PM
Bonds managed to scratch out a 2nd day of "recovery" leading back from the highest yields in more than 4 years seen on Wednesday. If you don't want t...
Fri, Apr 27 2018, 6:21 PM
Mortgage rates moved lower again today , bringing them back in line with Monday's levels for the average lender. That said, rate sheets have been very...
Fri, Apr 27 2018, 11:10 AM
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has announced a technical change to its October 2015 "Know Before You Owe" mortgage disclosure rule. T...
Fri, Apr 27 2018, 11:07 AM
The rate of homeownership as well as the national vacancy rates were statistically unchanged in the first quarter of this year, and prices, especially...
Fri, Apr 27 2018, 9:19 AM
The abrupt sell-off that began on 4/18 has been a bit frustrating from an analytical standpoint due to an absence of clearly-delineated motivations. ...
Fri, Apr 27 2018, 9:15 AM
Huh? Nearly half of borrowers don’t rate shop? Freddie Mac tells us that this is indeed the case (although every LO and broker I know would disagree)....
Thu, Apr 26 2018, 5:00 PM
In yesterday's recap, I mentioned that we were likely to see a token bounce on one of the next 3 days, but that it didn't necessarily guarantee furt...
Thu, Apr 26 2018, 4:18 PM
Mortgage rates caught a break today , as underlying bond markets made it back into Tuesday's territory. Refreshingly, lenders were willing to set rate...
Thu, Apr 26 2018, 12:32 PM
Not sure whether to call it cooperation, a coincidence or a non-musical "call and response," but a proposal unveiled by Ben Carson, Secretary of Housi...
Thu, Apr 26 2018, 10:07 AM
Today is shaping up to be the first push back against the current selling trend. By current, I mean the sharper, shorter trend of the past 7 days a...
Thu, Apr 26 2018, 9:13 AM
I'm a capital markets guy, so, by some people’s definition, don’t know much about numbers. But I know that .250 (a quarter point) on a $100,000 loan i...
Wed, Apr 25 2018, 4:32 PM
The recent rate drama continues unabated. Today was the 6th day of heavy selling in bond markets, bringing yields within striking distance of the 2...
Wed, Apr 25 2018, 3:32 PM
Mortgage rates had another rough day as they continued moving up into new 4-year highs. Unlike the extremely mild and uneventful day-to-day changes se...
Wed, Apr 25 2018, 12:43 PM
A new poll indicates that 17 percent of adults are ready and willing to purchase a home over the next year, and many will be first-time buyers . The i...
Wed, Apr 25 2018, 9:33 AM
It will come as no surprise that I feel the level of discussion about 10yr yields being at 3% is overdone at best, and misguided at worst. Actually, ...
Wed, Apr 25 2018, 9:22 AM
Amazon Web Services, the conglomerate’s cloud computing division, has announced AWS Blockchain Templates, which will compete with similar offerings fr...
Wed, Apr 25 2018, 9:09 AM
The volume of mortgage applications received during the week ended April 20 was largely unchanged from the previous week . The Mortgage Bankers Associ...
Tue, Apr 24 2018, 4:56 PM
After yesterday's somewhat hopeful leveling-off in bond yields, today served to drive home the point that hope is futile and only bad things are goi...
Tue, Apr 24 2018, 4:26 PM
Mortgage rates moved somewhat higher again today, thus pushing them farther into the highest levels in more than 4 years. This isn't the result of any...
Tue, Apr 24 2018, 11:24 AM
New home sales continue to improve after grim reports in December and January. New home sales posted a solid gain in March, and revisions to the Febru...
Tue, Apr 24 2018, 10:32 AM
Both the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller reported on February home prices on Tuesday and both showed little m...
Tue, Apr 24 2018, 10:25 AM
You won't be able to avoid "3% 10yr Treasury Yields" this week. For starters, 10's have already hit 3.0033% today, but simply being close seems to ha...
Tue, Apr 24 2018, 9:12 AM
Where should a lender reduce expenses? I received this note from STRATMOR’s Jeff Babcock. “In our numerous conversations with client mortgage originat...
Mon, Apr 23 2018, 5:16 PM
Have you ever seen someone randomly do something fairly awful/hurtful/aggressive, offer no explanation or apology, and then just leave the scene? Tha...
Mon, Apr 23 2018, 4:49 PM
Mortgage rates moved markedly higher today, officially leaving them at new 4-year highs. The only other time they've earned that distinction this year...
Mon, Apr 23 2018, 2:09 PM
Freddie Mac's economists say, "The broader economic environment remains favorable for home sales," but they add a lot of caveats to that statement . S...
Mon, Apr 23 2018, 10:56 AM
Existing-home sales seemed to have reclaimed their footing, posting their second consecutive gain after two straight months of declines. The National ...
Mon, Apr 23 2018, 9:12 AM
“A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon, you’re talking real money,” was never actually uttered by Illinois politician Everett Dirksen. ("Oh, I ...
Mon, Apr 23 2018, 9:03 AM
I'm going to be surly this week about the way the bond market is covered in the financial media. Many of the articles to which I take exception will ...
Fri, Apr 20 2018, 5:14 PM
10yr yields hit the highest levels in more than 4 years this afternoon as bigger-picture selling pressure looks to be taking the reigns back from ...
