Wed, Apr 19 2017, 4:01 PM
Mortgage rates were steady to slightly higher today, depending on the lender, despite bond market weakness. Typically, bond market weakness results in...
Tue, Apr 18 2017, 10:14 AM
Once again, the pace of both residential construction permits and housing starts reversed direction, repeating, in March, the up and down pattern that...
Tue, Apr 18 2017, 9:36 AM
There are plenty of companies out there, banks and non-banks, trying to raise money. Since lots of folks like lists, let’s start Tuesday with the top ...
Tue, Apr 18 2017, 9:25 AM
While there is more economic data on the calendar today, bond markets continue to look elsewhere for inspiration. Geopolitical risks, fiscal policy, ...
Tue, Apr 18 2017, 5:18 PM
One of these days we may be forced to conclude that bonds simply WANT to be rallying , regardless of the justification. One day it's Syria. The nex...
Tue, Apr 18 2017, 5:05 PM
The housing inventory, or lack of it, dominates Freddie Mac's Outlook for April. The company's Economic and Housing Research team says the supply of f...
Tue, Apr 18 2017, 3:50 PM
After stumbling just slightly yesterday, mortgage rates returned to their recent habit of setting new 2017 lows today. At this point, we're getting cl...
Mon, Apr 17 2017, 10:44 AM
Even though overall builder confidence retreated from March levels, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) called the April reading of the N...
Mon, Apr 17 2017, 9:24 AM
“It was a Monday, a day like any other day. I left a small town, for the apple in decay” - so sang Foreigner many years ago. But the Big Apple’s real ...
Mon, Apr 17 2017, 9:09 AM
On Good Friday (when markets were closed), both Retail Sales and the Consumer Price Index came out weaker than expected. Of particular interest i...
Mon, Apr 17 2017, 4:57 PM
Today was destined to be a lower-volume session simply because it's the Monday after Good Friday. That means many US market participants are still ou...
Mon, Apr 17 2017, 3:47 PM
For the third day in a row, mortgage rates set new 2017 lows this morning. But as bond markets weakened into the afternoon, several lenders recalled r...
Mon, Apr 17 2017, 3:42 PM
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has inviting comment periods on changes to its Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) reporting rule. CFP...
Thu, Apr 13 2017, 12:07 PM
Mortgage rates set new 2017 lows for the third straight day today, although only in terms of "effective rates" (which take upfront costs into account)...
Thu, Apr 13 2017, 11:59 AM
Despite a terrible fourth quarter, independent mortgage banks and mortgage subsidiaries of chartered banks managed to have a slightly more profitable ...
Thu, Apr 13 2017, 11:41 AM
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) says it appears that new home sales were exceptional strong in March. Its Builder Application Survey (BAS) show...
Thu, Apr 13 2017, 9:16 AM
The Trump administration is working to revise or replace the Dodd-Frank Act, President Donald Trump told a group of CEOs. House Financial Services Com...
Thu, Apr 13 2017, 8:44 AM
This holiday-shortened 3.5-day trading week has quickly become a brave new world for bond markets. Actually, it might be better characterized as a ...
Thu, Apr 13 2017, 4:07 PM
Heading into Good Friday weekend, it's not uncommon for bond markets to retrace whatever the trend happens to be earlier in the week. In other words,...
Wed, Apr 12 2017, 11:53 AM
Early state mortgage delinquencies are an important measure of mortgage market health, and CoreLogic reports they are continuing to decline . In Janua...
Wed, Apr 12 2017, 9:24 AM
“Marriage is a legal and religious alliance entered into by a man who can’t sleep with the window shut and a woman who can’t sleep with the window ope...
Wed, Apr 12 2017, 9:07 AM
Yesterday, it became increasingly clear in the middle of the trading session that bond markets were responding to the "risk-off" trading motivations...
Wed, Apr 12 2017, 8:26 AM
The volume of mortgage applications reversed a three-week losing streak to rise 1.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis last week. The Mortgage Ban...
Wed, Apr 12 2017, 6:47 PM
Friday was exciting for a short while. Following the weaker-than-expected NFP, 10yr yields briefly broke below 2.27--emphasis on "brief." Friday qui...
Wed, Apr 12 2017, 5:20 PM
Mortgage rates continued lower today, bringing them even deeper into new lows for 2017. Bond markets (which underlie rate movement) were already doing...
Tue, Apr 11 2017, 11:14 AM
While home sales in 2016 were the strongest in years, the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) said on Tuesday there was a shift in their compositi...
Tue, Apr 11 2017, 11:07 AM
Soaring prices are hitting the vacation home market, as a growing number of Americans now choose to rent rather than buy their beach and mountain home...
Tue, Apr 11 2017, 9:17 AM
Renter households appear increasingly willing to stay as such, per Freddie Mac. The company has released results from its latest renter survey, conduc...
Tue, Apr 11 2017, 9:09 AM
TD research finds rising home prices have driven up equity so much tha t 33% of millennial homeowners now say they are considering applying for a home...
Tue, Apr 11 2017, 9:01 AM
(NOTE: If you're subscribed to receive MBS Commentary emails, you will have received last Friday's Recap in error this morning. Sorry for the confusi...
Tue, Apr 11 2017, 8:14 AM
As the headline suggests, NFP (the "nonfarm payrolls" component of the big jobs report) was much weaker than expected today (98k vs 180k forecast). O...
Tue, Apr 11 2017, 4:30 PM
Mortgage rates moved lower today--significantly in some cases--with the average lender making it back to 2017's lows for the first time since January....
Mon, Apr 10 2017, 9:03 AM
In response to a note I had Friday about Domino’s Pizza being required to post all 34 million calorie combinations of its pizzas, ThomsonReuters’ Mich...
Mon, Apr 10 2017, 8:58 AM
The 2nd week of April begins with bonds threatening to embark on another bounce inside the post-election trading range (10yr yields from 2.30-2.64, ...
Mon, Apr 10 2017, 5:32 PM
On a positive note, bonds were slightly stronger today and yields held just barely below a technical level that has been more of floor than a ceilin...
Mon, Apr 10 2017, 4:09 PM
Mortgage rates rose slightly again today, despite moderate improvement in underlying bond markets. Typically, bond market improvement corresponds to l...
Fri, Apr 7 2017, 12:24 PM
Servicers might have a loyalty problem. Or, more likely, a marketing one. In its April Mortgage Monitor , much of which we covered earlier this week, ...
Fri, Apr 7 2017, 10:04 AM
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were big players in the multi-family sector of the commercial real estate market last year. According to the Mortgage Banke...
Fri, Apr 7 2017, 9:55 AM
If you think mortgage regulations are running amok, as part of the Affordable Care Act, restaurants with 20 or more locations will soon have to post s...
Fri, Apr 7 2017, 8:22 AM
Cue the "all eyes" headlines that seem to pop up on NFP day, a la "All Eyes on NFP." Well, this certainly used to be true. It will probably be tru...
Fri, Apr 7 2017, 5:40 PM
Mortgage rates rose modestly today, compared to yesterday's latest levels. Compared to the morning's rate sheets however, the rise was sharper, but ev...
Fri, Apr 7 2017, 2:42 PM
After a couple of high flying months and after setting several survey records in February, Fannie Mae's Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI) ran out o...
Thu, Apr 6 2017, 10:09 AM
Access to jumbo mortgage loans rebounded from a loss in February to drive the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA's) Mortgage Credit Availability Inde...
Thu, Apr 6 2017, 9:36 AM
Want a good statistic to demonstrate how tight the housing market is? 57% of all realtors have been involved in a sale with at least 10 offers on a si...
Thu, Apr 6 2017, 9:17 AM
The day begins with a similar pattern shaping up to that seen in late March when the healthcare bill drama was highest. Said drama translated to th...
Thu, Apr 6 2017, 5:16 PM
Bonds continue grinding it out in an exceptionally horizontal sort of direction! If you saw the best and the worst of trading levels on Monday, you'v...
Thu, Apr 6 2017, 4:45 PM
Mortgage rates remained largely unchanged today, on average. Once again, there was a fair amount of volatility in bond markets (which dictate rates) d...
Wed, Apr 5 2017, 10:54 AM
The Urban institute's (UI's) Ellen Seidman is reporting on an UI event held last month to discuss what she terms "overly restrictive credit-scoring sy...
Wed, Apr 5 2017, 9:05 AM
U.S. auto loan debt hit a record $1.16 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2016. That averages out to $6,100 in car payments per licensed driver. In fac...
Wed, Apr 5 2017, 8:51 AM
Heading into the end of March, markets were generally preoccupied with the healthcare drama in congress and bond yields were generally consolidating i...
