Thu, Jul 2 2015, 5:22 PM
Mortgage rates made an anti-climactic move lower today after the big jobs report proved slightly disappointing to markets. Stocks and bond yie...
Thu, Jul 2 2015, 5:18 PM
As far as days with big initial reactions to economic data go, today was about as boring as they come. The first part of the problem was the overnigh...
Thu, Jul 2 2015, 4:51 PM
In the S&P/Case-Shiller home price indices report for
April David M. Blitzer, Managing Director and
Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones...
Thu, Jul 2 2015, 4:01 PM
A new analysis by CoreLogic shows an increased risk of
mortgage application fraud associated with purchase loans while loans made for
refinancing ...
Wed, Jul 1 2015, 11:52 AM
Greece's chief export these days is red herring . More of them hit the market overnight as Tsipras allegedly sent a letter saying he agreed to almos...
Wed, Jul 1 2015, 11:38 AM
The Fourth of July is nearly here our very own Census Bureau has dished up some tasty numerical facts. The estimated U.S. population for July Fourth t...
Wed, Jul 1 2015, 10:26 AM
An unsigned article in the National Law Review takes another
look at the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)/Treasury Department handling
of the ...
Wed, Jul 1 2015, 10:22 AM
In a report prepared for submission to Congress the Federal Housing Finance Agency analyzes the guarantee fees charged by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (...
Wed, Jul 1 2015, 9:24 AM
Mortgage applications declined yet again during the week ended June
26. The Mortgage Bankers Association
(MBA) said its Market Composite Index, a...
Wed, Jul 1 2015, 7:33 AM
Yesterday saw a fairly noticeable swoop lower in bond prices (higher in yields) at the 3pm CME bond pit close. While we live in an increasingly ele...
Wed, Jul 1 2015, 5:39 PM
Mortgage rates gave up recently-enjoyed gains today. This brings them to the week's highest levels (and the 3rd highest in 2015) a day before th...
Wed, Jul 1 2015, 5:39 PM
The last two days were nice while they lasted , but today's trading levels are right back in line with most of last week. In other words, bonds sold...
Wed, Jul 1 2015, 4:08 PM
Construction spending in the public and private sectors
increased slightly in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,035.8
billion . The f...
Wed, Jul 1 2015, 4:07 PM
Highlights from the most recent update to Fannie's Selling Guide:
Conversion of
Principal Residence Requirements
At the height of the
finan...
Tue, Jun 30 2015, 11:48 AM
Although MBS are just barely into positive territory and Treasuries are just now getting back to unchanged levels after morning weakness, today is abo...
Tue, Jun 30 2015, 11:33 AM
"One." That is the extra second that June 30 th
has today to correct clocks for the earth's rotation. "330,820." That
is the number of times Amer...
Tue, Jun 30 2015, 10:47 AM
Home prices rose 1.0 percent in April. Black Knight Financial Services said its Home
Price Index for the month was at $248,000 compared to $245,000 ...
Tue, Jun 30 2015, 10:10 AM
House prices continued to increase in
April but the gains lost a bit of momentum compared to the previous month,
reversing the acceleration noted by...
Tue, Jun 30 2015, 7:34 AM
It's a big day for Greece.
No, not today, when the country will 'default' on it's €1.7 bln payment to the IMF. No, not July 5th when the Greek pe...
Tue, Jun 30 2015, 4:10 PM
Mortgage rates had their 2nd straight day of improvements today--something that's been uncommon since the beginning of May. Additionally, the ...
Tue, Jun 30 2015, 4:10 PM
European and US headlines did their rendition of 'dueling banjos' this afternoon. On the European side, we had potentially fake news out of a country...
Mon, Jun 29 2015, 11:19 AM
I
doubt the average U.S. household is sitting around worrying about
interest rates. It's probably more like earthquake preparedness than
anythin...
Mon, Jun 29 2015, 5:31 PM
Mortgage rates spiked to the highest levels of the year on Friday after hovering close to them for several days. But news out of Europe over the...
Mon, Jun 29 2015, 5:31 PM
Nothing like some good, old-fashioned 'stock lever' to restore one's faith in classic market paradigms. That's the one where traders " sell stocks, b...
Mon, Jun 29 2015, 2:20 PM
The early morning hours for US bond markets were somewhat disheartening as gains steadily evaporated into the 10am hour. Up until that point, it look...
Mon, Jun 29 2015, 1:51 AM
After falling abruptly from June highs near 1.14 at the start of last week, the Euro currency finished Friday under 1.12. Visually and actually, the ...
Mon, Jun 29 2015, 1:37 PM
Pending home sales hit their highest level in over nine years in May,
indicating that the strong existing and new home sales announced last week are
...
Fri, Jun 26 2015, 11:21 AM
Yesterday
the Supreme Court weighed in on disparate impact in what was viewed as a
win for housing advocates & the CFPB and a setback for the ba...
Fri, Jun 26 2015, 11:14 AM
The trend continues to be unfriendly this morning. Markets are defending against the possibility that the weekend brings a Greek debt deal. Headline...
Fri, Jun 26 2015, 7:33 AM
With bond markets unable to break back into May's trading range last week and now unable to break into last week's range this week, things aren't l...
Fri, Jun 26 2015, 5:22 PM
Mortgage rates were already hovering near 2015 highs as of yesterday. Today's spike sent them easily above the previous annual high , set on Ju...
Fri, Jun 26 2015, 5:13 PM
Paradoxically, US bond markets sold off (read: rates went higher) much more sharply than European bond markets today. That will certainly make no sen...
Fri, Jun 26 2015, 4:43 PM
Another measure of returning normalcy
came on Thursday with a report from the Office of Comptroller of the Currency
(OCC) on mortgage loan performan...
Thu, Jun 25 2015, 12:26 PM
At present, we mustn't try to force rate movement into historically reliable cause-and-effect equations. All we know is the answer and several of t...
Thu, Jun 25 2015, 10:30 AM
Aside
from a few memorable blips, rates have basically trended down in the
United States since 1982 until a year or two ago. What else has been
...
Thu, Jun 25 2015, 7:33 AM
I realize that by including Greece in a headline that I'm not really helping the issue that I'm about to complain about (again), but perhaps the headl...
Thu, Jun 25 2015, 5:56 PM
Mortgage rates remained near recent highs for
a 2nd straight day after rising quickly on the first two days of the
week. With the exceptio...
Thu, Jun 25 2015, 5:45 PM
Bond markets moved back toward the higher end of their recent yield range today--and indeed, the highest pivot point in 2015. 10yr yields have only b...
Thu, Jun 25 2015, 3:48 PM
Even as homeownership rates remain at
historic lows the mortgage debt on single family homes is increasing, ending
seven years of decline. Freddie ...
Thu, Jun 25 2015, 3:18 PM
It was buried by the release of the Supreme Court's decision
upholding a portion of the Affordable Health Care Act, but the Court today also upheld
...
Wed, Jun 24 2015, 12:55 PM
For all intents and purposes, only 2 things have happened for bond markets this week. Yields rose quickly on Monday and have moved sideways since the...
Wed, Jun 24 2015, 8:57 AM
Mortgage applications, which posted eight declines in the last nine weeks,
recovered a bit during the week ended June 19.
The Mortgage Bankers As...
Wed, Jun 24 2015, 7:33 AM
We can talk about minutia or we can talk about the big picture . Minute details vary as far as their suggested impact on bond market momentum. In...
Wed, Jun 24 2015, 5:54 PM
It was a fairly boring day for bond markets both at home and abroad. This, despite headlines surrounding the Greek debt situation that seemingly sugg...
Wed, Jun 24 2015, 5:17 PM
Mortgage rates barely budged in most cases today. Some lenders were just slightly better. Others were worse. The average rate quote is unchang...
Wed, Jun 24 2015, 3:42 PM
Free
DU? You bet - Fannie couldn't let Freddie offer LP at no charge and not
respond. "Beginning June 1, Fannie Mae will align DU and Desktop
Or...
Wed, Jun 24 2015, 1:38 PM
There was a general increase in foreclosure activity in May
according to Black Knight Financial Services.
Its "First Look" at data that will be f...
Wed, Jun 24 2015, 1:37 PM
Freddie Mac said on Wednesday that it
Multi-Indicator Market Index (MiMi) shows that the U.S. housing market is
continuing to stabilize and those ...
Tue, Jun 23 2015, 12:03 PM
The good news in housing continued this morning with a
report on May new home sales. According
to the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing a...
Tue, Jun 23 2015, 10:31 AM
Prices across the U.S. rose 0.3 percent on a seasonally
adjusted basis in April compared to March the Federal Housing Finance Agency
(FHFA) said t...
