Wed, Jan 24 2018, 9:56 AM
The Federal Housing Finance Agency said its House Price Index (HPI) racked up a 0.4 percent gain in November and the 0.5 percent appreciation rate rep...
Wed, Jan 24 2018, 9:16 AM
“The kids convinced me to make popcorn for breakfast. That makes me either the best or worst dad ever – not sure which.” Breakfast at home is a fond m...
Wed, Jan 24 2018, 8:31 AM
Mortgage applications continue on the tear they started during the first week of 2018. The Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA's) Market Composite Ind...
Tue, Jan 23 2018, 3:49 PM
Fannie Mae's Economic and Strategic Research Group (ESR) focused on the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, passed late last year, in its January Economic Deve...
Tue, Jan 23 2018, 3:17 PM
Mortgage rates finally managed to move lower in a small but meaningful way today--something they haven't done in more than 2 weeks! During that time, ...
Tue, Jan 23 2018, 4:27 PM
It took 3 consecutive days of pushing into the weakest levels in more than 3 years for bond markets to figure out how to rally by more than a token ...
Tue, Jan 23 2018, 10:13 AM
Black Knight notes a significant uptick in seriously delinquent mortgages in December. The number of loans that were 90 or more days overdue increased...
Tue, Jan 23 2018, 9:23 AM
Now that the government has re-opened and furloughed bison are streaming back into various national parks, let’s turn back to… LO comp? “Rob, are you ...
Tue, Jan 23 2018, 8:49 AM
Perhaps you're already well aware that Haruhiko Kuroda is the head of the Bank of Japan (BOJ) , and a Ben Bernanke of sorts when it comes to bringing...
Mon, Jan 22 2018, 5:31 PM
Bonds ended in the green today, albeit just barely . Normally that wouldn't be a bad thing, but today's example leaves a bit to be desired.
I sho...
Mon, Jan 22 2018, 5:13 PM
With a stop-gap funding bill likely to be approved tonight, the following will not be germane for long, but it could serve as a template for the next ...
Mon, Jan 22 2018, 4:34 PM
Mortgage rates pushed up to yet another 9-month high today--something that's become all too common in the past few weeks. Just as troubling is the fac...
Mon, Jan 22 2018, 12:15 PM
Last year's Federal Reserve actions, raising the target interest rate three times, led to about a 0.75 percentage point increase in the 1-year Constan...
Mon, Jan 22 2018, 9:19 AM
If you want to read up on the latest Fannie lawsuit, here’s one dealing with a stripper hired into Fannie’s IT group but with unusual manager expectat...
Mon, Jan 22 2018, 9:05 AM
Markets closed on Friday with a government shutdown still in limbo. Ostensibly, that meant the reaction in stocks and bonds wouldn't be fully seen un...
Fri, Jan 19 2018, 7:27 PM
Today's sell-off brought 10yr yields to their highest levels since the middle of 2014 (when they were on their way down following the taper tantrum....
Fri, Jan 19 2018, 6:24 PM
Mortgage rates remained at 9-month highs today, with most lenders in worse shape than yesterday. In the morning, the sky hadn't yet fallen, the averag...
Fri, Jan 19 2018, 12:44 PM
The bidding wars are back . With home prices and sales back to or above pre-crisis levels and the inventory of available homes at records lows, CoreLo...
Fri, Jan 19 2018, 11:30 AM
Bloomberg News is reporting on a proposal from Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Melvin Watt regarding the future of Fannie Mae and Fredd...
Fri, Jan 19 2018, 9:33 AM
While recently passed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will benefit the take-home pay of most Americans, and allow them to save up to buy a home if they wish, ot...
Fri, Jan 19 2018, 9:13 AM
Yesterday's recap is a good read if you didn't happen to catch it. Here's a link.
In general, there are 2 things going on with rates right now. ...
Fri, Jan 19 2018, 9:00 AM
As if we don’t have enough measures of housing and real estate prices, here’s another one. The RE/MAX National Housing Report tells us what most alrea...
Thu, Jan 18 2018, 4:49 PM
Well... at least things are interesting . The winter holidays are always a challenge from an analytical and market-watching standpoint. It seems li...
Thu, Jan 18 2018, 3:45 PM
It's Thursday, which means Freddie Mac released its weekly update on mortgage rates . This is typically not that big of a deal because mortgage rates ...
Thu, Jan 18 2018, 12:27 PM
There is a rather unusual request up on the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA's) website. Two FHFA analysts, saying that the issue of updating th...
Thu, Jan 18 2018, 9:57 AM
Both housing starts and permits were expected to retreat a bit in December , following their strong performances in October and November. Permits did ...
Thu, Jan 18 2018, 9:37 AM
Is the decades-long bull market in bonds over? I imagine we'll be talking about this sort of thing every time yields spike to multi-month highs and...
Thu, Jan 18 2018, 9:36 AM
The new tax law appeared to have slightly influenced mortgage originations in December, ahead of its actual implementation. Ellie Mae, in its December...
Thu, Jan 18 2018, 9:30 AM
Since 2006, mortgage interest rates have fallen 242 basis points, from 6.41 percent to 3.99 percent. A decline of 246 basis points in the 10-Year Trea...
Thu, Jan 18 2018, 9:18 AM
“Employee engagement is a hot topic for organizations big and small. Regardless of size, a highly engaged workforce is a company’s greatest asset and ...
Wed, Jan 17 2018, 4:42 PM
Last week's bounce at a ceiling of 2.60% (twice, essentially) was enough for some DEFENSIVE hope. In other words, it introduced the possibility of th...
Wed, Jan 17 2018, 3:35 PM
Mortgage rates were only moderately higher today, but the move was enough to officially bring them to the highest levels since the Spring of 2017. In ...
Wed, Jan 17 2018, 1:54 PM
Several housing authorities recently suggested changes to the form and operation of the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program, more commonly ...
Wed, Jan 17 2018, 10:41 AM
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), which hit an 18-year high in December, backed off a bit this ...
Wed, Jan 17 2018, 9:14 AM
“It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, as long as you have money.” Banks are where the money is, and plenty of them are paying attention to Congr...
Wed, Jan 17 2018, 9:07 AM
There's bad news and not-quite-as-bad news. Longer-term bonds (the stuff we care about) are either in a modest, steady, long-term uptrend (in rate)...
Wed, Jan 17 2018, 8:36 AM
Mortgage activity continued strong during the second week of the New Year. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reports that its Market Composite In...
Tue, Jan 16 2018, 5:00 PM
Had it not been for a fairly abrupt sell-off in stocks (the first big day of losses in 2018, and the biggest open-to-close sell-off since late August ...
Tue, Jan 16 2018, 3:20 PM
Mortgage rates didn't move much today. Most lenders were just slightly lower/better this morning, but mid-day market weakness prompted several of them...
Tue, Jan 16 2018, 11:00 AM
Builders are building more houses, but a survey conducted by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) found they are essentially building the ...
Tue, Jan 16 2018, 9:36 AM
Don't get too excited. Despite a few close calls and false alarms, bonds managed to close below last Tuesday's highs for three days in a row. Now th...
Tue, Jan 16 2018, 9:16 AM
Replacing real estate agents with “something else that doesn’t earn a 6% commission” is certainly a discussion topic. Here’s one new venture: peer to ...
Fri, Jan 12 2018, 8:00 PM
Mortgage rates caught a break yesterday by moving lower for the first time this week. They arguably caught a break again today by not moving any highe...
Fri, Jan 12 2018, 7:58 PM
I laughed out loud today--something I rarely do when reading typed words--after MBS Live cornerstone Sung Kim quipped "thank God China is buying today...
Fri, Jan 12 2018, 9:14 AM
Plenty of people tell me that I’m “long in the tooth.” (A way of gauging a horse’s age.) Tooth? Thanks to Emily W. for sending in something that all o...
Fri, Jan 12 2018, 8:34 AM
A majority of market participants (or their mentors) were steeped in the extraordinary inflation/rate volatility of the late 70's and early 80's. As ...
Thu, Jan 11 2018, 4:50 PM
Yesterday morning's news regarding China potentially buying fewer (or selling) US Treasuries has been a big talking point. While most pundits and eve...
Thu, Jan 11 2018, 3:51 PM
Mortgage rates caught a break today, moving lower for the first time this week and pushing back from the highest levels since early July 2017. Like ye...
Thu, Jan 11 2018, 3:27 PM
A Ginnie Mae official told Congress this week that his agency has growing concerns over the incidence of "loan churning" in the VA mortgage program. M...
Thu, Jan 11 2018, 10:17 AM
Despite the usual holiday lull in overall mortgage applications, the demand for newly constructed homes increased in December. The Mortgage Bankers As...
