Tue, Nov 7 2017, 11:37 AM
Data from CoreLogic could be sounding a bubble alarm. The company's Home Price Report for September jumped almost a point from the previous month, and...
Tue, Nov 7 2017, 9:56 AM
During the first eight months of 2017, home prices increased at the fastest clip than any equivalent time period since 2013. Black Knight Financial Se...
Tue, Nov 7 2017, 9:56 AM
Access to mortgage credit changed very little over the first nine months of 2017, and when there were increases, it seemed always to be the availabili...
Tue, Nov 7 2017, 9:52 AM
The MBA sent a letter to the House Committee on Ways and Means regarding its recently released tax reform proposal. Given the tax proposal, the MBA re...
Tue, Nov 7 2017, 9:06 AM
Bond traders are like my 10yr old. If you give them plenty of information to consider and if you lay out the right set of challenges, they're much mo...
Mon, Nov 6 2017, 5:08 PM
Mortgage rates continued lower today, despite a blatant lack of underlying motivation in financial markets. By that, I mean that we haven't seen any o...
Mon, Nov 6 2017, 5:05 PM
Both Treasuries and MBS inched their way to the best levels seen in more than 2 weeks today, and it couldn't be much less exciting. Today's trading...
Mon, Nov 6 2017, 11:20 AM
The last of a series of three working papers on the hurdles hampering homeownership was introduced on Friday in conjunction with the 2017 Realtors® Co...
Mon, Nov 6 2017, 9:23 AM
New Lender Programs Impac Mortgage Corp. offers No Income No Employment loans ("Asset Qualification Loans"). Planet Home Lending announced the additio...
Mon, Nov 6 2017, 9:12 AM
There isn't much by way of relevant data on the economic calendar this week. In fact, there are no reports that would ever be considered "top-tier" ...
Fri, Nov 3 2017, 6:30 PM
This is more of a recap of the week as a whole because if I tried to just cover today, the screen would look too blank! NFP came out weaker than expe...
Fri, Nov 3 2017, 5:55 PM
Mortgage rates were mostly sideways today although a few lenders offered token improvements. When we talk about small improvements in "mortgage rates,...
Fri, Nov 3 2017, 10:43 AM
While the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) was fast out of the box yesterday, slamming the newly released Republican tax reform proposal, ...
Fri, Nov 3 2017, 10:14 AM
The second in a scheduled three-part hearing on Sustainable Housing Finance was held on Thursday by the Housing and Insurance subcommittee of the Hous...
Fri, Nov 3 2017, 9:23 AM
One can focus on how to obtain a free sandwich today , since it is National Sandwich Day, or focus on the new tax proposal. NAR: "...at first glance i...
Fri, Nov 3 2017, 8:29 AM
On average, NFP (the "nonfarm payrolls" component of the Employment Situation report which also refers to the broader report itself) is the biggest ...
Thu, Nov 2 2017, 6:46 PM
Traders' eyes were far more burdened than their fingers (which push the "trade" button) today. There was a ton of info to take in regarding the GOP's...
Thu, Nov 2 2017, 5:52 PM
Mortgage rates improved moderately today following the release of the GOP tax bill and confirmation of Jerome Powell as Trump's Fed Chair nomination. ...
Thu, Nov 2 2017, 3:46 PM
Congressional leadership and the Trump Administration stand accused of " abandoning middle-class taxpayers in favor of high-income Americans and wealt...
Thu, Nov 2 2017, 11:52 AM
The rate of appreciation slowed a bit, but home prices both nationally and in most major metropolitan areas grew substantially in the third quarter of...
Thu, Nov 2 2017, 11:41 AM
There was a slight increase in total spending on construction in September. The U.S. Census Bureau says that all construction put in place during the ...
Thu, Nov 2 2017, 9:20 AM
Today the House Financial Services subcommittee is holding another hearing on GSE reform. Nothing is simple, but with Congress we really have an uphil...
Thu, Nov 2 2017, 9:13 AM
There are only so many ways to say the same thing, but I'll at least update the chart to show that bonds remain inside the same boundaries we've been ...
Wed, Nov 1 2017, 4:45 PM
Mortgage rates were slightly higher today, on average, as bond markets backed away from their stronger levels seen during the last 2 days of October. ...
Wed, Nov 1 2017, 2:09 PM
Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in July September indicates that the labor market has continued to strengthen and...
Wed, Nov 1 2017, 12:01 PM
Fannie Mae's Book of Business increased at a compounded annual rate of 2.7 percent in September to a value of $3.196 trillion compared to $3.188 trill...
Wed, Nov 1 2017, 11:51 AM
Whenever housing prices rise faster than the rate of inflation, the question arises, are we in a housing bubble? Two Urban Institute (UI) analysts, Bi...
Wed, Nov 1 2017, 9:14 AM
Sometimes things can be misleading, or don’t tell the whole story. For example, a 15-oz. bottle of Naked Green Machine juice smoothie has more sugar i...
Wed, Nov 1 2017, 9:04 AM
Friday and Monday were (relatively) great days for bond markets. For our purposes, at least, they signified an important push back against the more...
Wed, Nov 1 2017, 8:10 AM
The week ended October 27 saw yet another decline in mortgage applications, making it the sixth week out of the last seven that the Mortgage Bankers A...
Tue, Oct 31 2017, 4:48 PM
Today was the last day of trading for the month of October. That means money managers had to get a certain amount of bond buying accomplished in orde...
Tue, Oct 31 2017, 3:49 PM
Mortgage rates continued lower today, despite an absence of improvement in underlying bond markets. That's not too surprising considering the average ...
Tue, Oct 31 2017, 12:47 PM
The overall homeownership rate barely budged in the third quarter of 2017, and remains only 1 percentage point above its all-time low reached in the s...
Tue, Oct 31 2017, 10:14 AM
It is increasingly hackneyed to say it, but home price appreciation accelerated yet again in August. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller U.S. National Home...
Tue, Oct 31 2017, 9:23 AM
A new tool to measure the nation's largest consumer credit market came on-line this week. The new Mortgage Performance Trends tool, launched by the Co...
Tue, Oct 31 2017, 9:18 AM
Hard to believe it is Halloween already, and lenders everywhere are mired down in contests. (“Remember the shipping department’s M*A*S*H get-up last y...
Tue, Oct 31 2017, 9:12 AM
While the broader uptrend in rates remains technically intact, the first trading day of the week pushed back in a friendly direction. In fact, it was...
Mon, Oct 30 2017, 4:16 PM
Bonds began the day in stronger territory, generally riding a wave of momentum from late last week on fresh speculation that Trump would nominate Jero...
Mon, Oct 30 2017, 3:50 PM
Mortgage rates recovered even more of their recent losses today, following reports that lawmakers were considering "phasing in" a 20% corporate tax ra...
Mon, Oct 30 2017, 11:35 AM
The demand, steady gains in employment, low interest rates, and higher rents are all incentives to buy a home. But the National Association of Realtor...
Mon, Oct 30 2017, 9:36 AM
We know that politics makes strange bedfellows. Still we get confused when they rise up and switch partners in the middle of the night. A mere 25 days...
Mon, Oct 30 2017, 9:35 AM
While home prices set yet another national peak in August, the change from July was the second smallest of the year, at least as measured by Black Kni...
Mon, Oct 30 2017, 9:19 AM
I, for one, have no interest in buying shoes online without trying them on first. The same with a mattress – I want to lie on it myself. (Lay? Lie?) I...
Mon, Oct 30 2017, 9:14 AM
Wednesday brings this year's 2nd to last installment of Fed policy announcements, and those announcements have certainly been ramping up in terms of s...
Fri, Oct 27 2017, 6:44 PM
If nothing else, today made it clear that markets care about the next Fed chair... a lot! Despite the presence of GDP data, Consumer Sentiment, and...
Fri, Oct 27 2017, 3:11 PM
Mortgage rates recovered some of their recent losses today, with most lenders moving back into Wednesday's territory. The improvement followed another...
Fri, Oct 27 2017, 9:22 AM
The average age of a loan officer is 73. Okay, just kidding. But as anyone in the lending industry and others age, they begin to worry about things su...
Fri, Oct 27 2017, 9:02 AM
Yesterday afternoon's MBS Recap is a good read if you want a longer and more philosophical version of what I'm about to write (click the link to read ...
Thu, Oct 26 2017, 7:13 PM
If you haven't seen Zoolander, you won't be familiar with Billy Zane declaring "It's a walk-off," thus beginning the runway modeling battle between Be...
Thu, Oct 26 2017, 5:22 PM
Mortgage rates are in a bit of trouble, having moved higher at the fastest pace since late June in the past few days. If you've had occasion to read a...
