Tue, Jul 11 2017, 3:44 PM
Mortgage rates remained in a very narrow range near their highest levels in roughly 3 months today. If you're into splitting hairs, we could discuss t...
Tue, Jul 11 2017, 3:40 PM
The Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) for May showed fewer job openings than analysts had expected, 5....
Tue, Jul 11 2017, 11:54 AM
While the overall percentage of non-current mortgage loans declined over the 12 months that ended in April, there was an uptick of those in the early ...
Tue, Jul 11 2017, 9:34 AM
Black Knight's current Mortgage Monitor notes that refinances are increasingly being driven by a cash-out rather than interest rate motives both becau...
Tue, Jul 11 2017, 9:21 AM
Besides 7/11 being “Free Slurpee Day,” we’re in the middle of “home buying season” (if there are actually listings) and loan officers are currying the...
Tue, Jul 11 2017, 9:17 AM
Bond markets (and stocks for that matter) have been stuck in narrow, sideways ranges over the past 4 trading sessions. This is a major departure fr...
Mon, Jul 10 2017, 5:57 PM
Bond markets were exceptionally quiet today. Even though trading levels were technically stronger than Friday, 10yr yields have remained in the sam...
Mon, Jul 10 2017, 5:24 PM
Mortgage rates improved somewhat today, on average, but the gains were modest. Some lenders were unchanged from Friday afternoon's latest levels. That...
Mon, Jul 10 2017, 9:52 AM
Fannie/Freddie, Both Conforming and Conventional News In Freddie Mac news, "To ensure we continue to provide responsible financing options, we will ch...
Mon, Jul 10 2017, 9:51 AM
This week's economic calendar is fairly light, with no top tier reports until Thursday (Producer Prices) and Friday (CPI/Retail Sales). For what it's...
Mon, Jul 10 2017, 9:35 AM
The housing industry has been looking for a slowdown in home price growth for several years, but quite the contrary has occurred. Black Knight Financi...
Fri, Jul 7 2017, 4:48 PM
NFP Friday is an institution for financial markets and especially the bond market. No other piece of monthly economic consistently has as big of an...
Fri, Jul 7 2017, 3:59 PM
Mortgage rates didn't move much higher today for most lenders. While that absence of additional weakness is "nice," the net effect is that rates remai...
Fri, Jul 7 2017, 3:33 PM
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has announced final updates to it "Know Before You Owe" mortgage disclosure rule which went into effec...
Fri, Jul 7 2017, 10:46 AM
It may be good news for those skinny housing inventories, homebuyers are allegedly confronting that increasing numbers of homeowners think now is a go...
Fri, Jul 7 2017, 8:55 AM
If you are a residential lender doing business in Nevada, would you ever lend on a condo or residence that has a Home Owner’s Association? Good luck. ...
Fri, Jul 7 2017, 8:25 AM
"NFP doesn't matter." These are bold words at times, a no-brainer at others, and a lucky guess most of the time. While NFP matters greatly in gener...
Thu, Jul 6 2017, 4:30 PM
We ended yesterday with a glimmer of hope for an end to the recent uptrend in rates. Even so, the modest gains were scarcely enough to defeat that ...
Thu, Jul 6 2017, 3:20 PM
According to Federal Reserve Governor Jerome H. Powell, the current housing finance status quo may feel comfortable , but it is also unsustainable . P...
Thu, Jul 6 2017, 3:16 PM
CoreLogic, which maintains it employs "the largest panel of appraisers in the country ," looked at the possibilities for regulatory changes to the ind...
Thu, Jul 6 2017, 3:02 PM
Mortgage rates resumed their recent trend higher today. Yesterday had been the first day since June 27th without noticeable weakness--raising some hop...
Thu, Jul 6 2017, 9:32 AM
HUD is recommending that Fannie Mae tweak upward its affordable housing goals for 2018-2020. The news prompted one industry vet to send, "Although thi...
Thu, Jul 6 2017, 9:26 AM
Treasuries were pummelled well before most domestic traders' left for the office this morning. 10yr yields were up to 2.37% (more than 4bps higher) b...
Thu, Jul 6 2017, 8:39 AM
In a report delayed from its usual Wednesday release by the July 4 th holiday, The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said on today that increased pur...
Wed, Jul 5 2017, 5:01 PM
Bond markets found their f irst green day since June 27th today and for no particular reason apart from today being the first full trading day in Jul...
Wed, Jul 5 2017, 4:15 PM
Mortgage rates had been rising at an uncomfortable pace since June 27th. As of Monday, the average conventional 30yr fixed rate quote was 0.125% highe...
Wed, Jul 5 2017, 12:07 PM
Redfin, the Seattle-based real estate brokerage (among other things) company is expected to soon take its place on the Nasdaq. The company filed a lon...
Wed, Jul 5 2017, 10:20 AM
Home prices ratcheted down their rate of gains in May, although as they say, it is all relative. After jumping by 1.6 percent in both March and April,...
Wed, Jul 5 2017, 9:31 AM
The U.S. Treasury Department recently issued a report titled “A Financial System That Creates Economic Opportunities-Banks and Credit Unions.” In addi...
Wed, Jul 5 2017, 9:08 AM
Today is light in terms of scheduled economic data and events. This will change rapidly over the next 2 days (ADP/ISM services tomorrow, followed...
Mon, Jul 3 2017, 3:02 PM
Bond markets closed early today (2pm ET) in observance of tomorrow's Independence Day holiday (and will be fully closed tomorrow). Fans of low rates ...
Mon, Jul 3 2017, 1:42 PM
Mortgage rates continue rising at an uncomfortable pace for anyone in the market to buy or refinance. Today was the 5th straight day of quicker-than-a...
Mon, Jul 3 2017, 10:51 AM
Construction spending was essentially flat in May when compared to April. The U.S. Census Bureau said on Monday that there were seasonally adjusted an...
Mon, Jul 3 2017, 9:40 AM
We’ve sailed through half of 2017 already. (“Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer you get to the end, the faster it goes.” Since many folks...
Mon, Jul 3 2017, 9:39 AM
Every Friday, the CFTC issues a report on trading position in Treasury Futures (and everything else in the commodities futures/options complex). Here'...
Mon, Jul 3 2017, 9:12 AM
Fannie Mae's Book of Business increased at a compounded annual rate of 1.5 percent in April to a value of $3.168 trillion compared to $3.164 trillion ...
Fri, Jun 30 2017, 4:53 PM
There is month-end bond buying and then there is month-end "position-squaring." These are 2 different things. Month-end bond-buying refers specifica...
Fri, Jun 30 2017, 3:43 PM
Mortgage rates moved higher for a 4th straight day to end the month of June. In terms of upward movement, this has been the worst week for mortgage ra...
Fri, Jun 30 2017, 1:02 PM
"Mortgage borrowers frequently make costly refinancing mistakes by either refinancing when they should wait, or by waiting when they should refinance....
Fri, Jun 30 2017, 9:20 AM
Huh? The year is half over? Didn’t 2017 just start? Time has a way of flying by. Via rocket ship. July starts tomorrow… and we hear of a new marketing...
Fri, Jun 30 2017, 9:11 AM
With bond yields so clearly lifting-off from their recent trend, today should be just another day to consider our relative demise. Being bullish on...
Thu, Jun 29 2017, 4:57 PM
If you follow equities markets much, you know that today was pretty ugly --especially for the tech sector. In fact, most equities analysts are blami...
Thu, Jun 29 2017, 4:08 PM
Mortgage rates are higher again today, with the average lender now back to levels not seen since May 16th, 2017. Unless you've been following every li...
Thu, Jun 29 2017, 10:51 AM
The Urban Institute (UI) releases a regular report, Housing Finance at a Glance , a "chartbook" loaded with charts and commentary on mortgage activity...
Thu, Jun 29 2017, 9:35 AM
Housing, Rates, and the Economy Following the NAR's recent report that existing home sales rebounded in May, Brad Walker, CEO of Income& , sent on not...
Thu, Jun 29 2017, 9:29 AM
Even yesterday, the situation was already getting serious for bond markets given our past encounters with hints of tapering from major central banks. ...
Wed, Jun 28 2017, 5:31 PM
Today began in hilarious and somewhat glorious fashion with unnamed "ECB sources" overtly doing damage control on Draghi's comments that rocked bond...
Wed, Jun 28 2017, 4:39 PM
Mortgage rates moved moderately higher again today, as investors continued digesting the possibility of a "taper tantrum" in Europe. The US version of...
Wed, Jun 28 2017, 10:39 AM
Pending home sales failed to rise as expected in May, the third straight month that measure has declined. The National Association of Realtors'® (NAR'...
Wed, Jun 28 2017, 10:01 AM
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) says it has learned that some servicers anticipate some calendar-related problems in complying with th...