Mon, Nov 29 2021, 11:05 AM
The number of signed contracts for the purchase of existing homes made another significant about face in October. The National Association of Realtors...
Mon, Nov 29 2021, 11:02 AM
While headlines move interest rates and countries are shutting their borders again, our industry awaits the official 2022 conforming loan limits after...
Fri, Nov 26 2021, 2:51 PM
Just when it looked like the current week would fizzle out on a negative note for rates, our least favorite market mover is back in the news. B.1.1.52...
Fri, Nov 26 2021, 2:50 PM
Covid Variant Causes Massive Market Reaction
This morning it was B.1.1.529. By the afternoon, the WHO label...
Fri, Nov 26 2021, 11:34 AM
Remember July? Covid was a fading memory and the light was clearly visible at the end of the pandemic tunnel. Then came Delta. It served as a painf...
Fri, Nov 26 2021, 10:39 AM
As millions of Americans convince themselves that loading and unloading the dishwasher counts as exercise, while we are reminded that rates are imposs...
Wed, Nov 24 2021, 4:18 PM
Fed Minutes Largely As Expected; No Major Drama For Bonds
After weathering the storm of this morning's data,...
Wed, Nov 24 2021, 1:51 PM
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reports that the volume of loan applications submitted during the week ended November 19 increased slightly, co...
Wed, Nov 24 2021, 11:38 AM
One of the side effects of holiday-shortened weeks is a condensed data schedule. That's especially true of Thanksgiving week as it essentially remove...
Wed, Nov 24 2021, 10:47 AM
New home sales improved slightly on the unexpected, reported surge in September and still managed to disappoint. The U.S. Census Bureau and the Depart...
Wed, Nov 24 2021, 10:44 AM
Ready to play Iowa's Thanksgiving dinner bingo ? Coffee prices are at a 10-year high, but drinkers will figure out what to do to afford it. All day lo...
Tue, Nov 23 2021, 4:46 PM
Mortgage rates continued higher today as the bond market remained in a defensive stance for a variety of reasons. The week's scheduled Treasury auctio...
Tue, Nov 23 2021, 4:41 PM
Strong Auction No Match For Bond Bears
Today's 7yr auction was the biggest potential source of volatility fo...
Tue, Nov 23 2021, 11:06 AM
The price of plenty of things, not just mortgages, is set by supply and demand. Forget the price of turkey… how ‘bout Christmas trees?! I don’t know h...
Tue, Nov 23 2021, 10:46 AM
As of last Friday, the bond market looked keen on rejecting any attempt to revisit the recent ceiling in late October (10yr yields were just over 1.70...
Mon, Nov 22 2021, 5:09 PM
Mortgage rates began the new week on a bad note with the average lender full erasing the improvement seen on Friday. This leaves many lenders at their...
Mon, Nov 22 2021, 4:41 PM
Abrupt Sell-Off To Begin Holiday-Shortened Week
The day began with confirmation that Fed Chair Powell would ...
Mon, Nov 22 2021, 11:33 AM
There was some speculation that Biden would nominate Fed governor Lael Brainard to take over as Fed chair. It an outside possibility, but one that le...
Mon, Nov 22 2021, 11:11 AM
Existing home sales moved higher in October, the second consecutive month of growth . The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) said sales of pre-ow...
Mon, Nov 22 2021, 11:02 AM
Time flies. For example, Thanksgiving week is here already. Debbie Harry, of Blondie fame, is 76 years old. Better.com has already been around five ye...
Fri, Nov 19 2021, 3:13 PM
Strong Showing Overall Despite Late Day Weakness
As noted in this morning's commentary, the key source of in...
Fri, Nov 19 2021, 3:00 PM
Winter is coming, both literally and figuratively. While the fallout remains to be seen, financial markets are already reacting. In the literal sense,...
Fri, Nov 19 2021, 12:45 PM
The ink wasn’t dry on Fannie Mae’s October economic forecast when the month’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) was published showing an inflation rate two-t...
Fri, Nov 19 2021, 11:43 AM
As yesterday's AM commentary tacitly suggested, "winter is coming" in terms of the connection between colder temps and higher covid case counts. Euro...
Fri, Nov 19 2021, 10:56 AM
Before we gear up for reported Christmas tree shortages and their exorbitant prices, Brent G. writes, “My family asked me what I was planning for Than...
Thu, Nov 18 2021, 3:31 PM
Bonds Add to Case For Stability
Bonds put in a solid enough performance on Thursday with 10yr yields almost ...
Thu, Nov 18 2021, 2:58 PM
Mortgage rates were modestly lower today as the bond market continued pushing back against somewhat abrupt weakness. The average media coverage says s...
Thu, Nov 18 2021, 11:22 AM
Refinancing continued to account for the largest share of mortgage originations in September, 53 percent of the total compared to 52 percent in Octobe...
Thu, Nov 18 2021, 10:36 AM
The overnight session was mostly uneventful for the bond market, but trading levels were slightly weaker in the first hour of trading. Since then, bu...
Thu, Nov 18 2021, 10:19 AM
Recently the podcast, its link at the bottom of this opening paragraph daily, quoted, “Change in residential lending is mandatory; progress is optiona...
Wed, Nov 17 2021, 4:46 PM
Mortgage rates finally caught a break after spending the past six business days moving higher at a faster-than-normal pace. During that time, the aver...
Wed, Nov 17 2021, 4:40 PM
Bonds Improve, Led by Treasuries as Corporate Pipeline Clears
One of the key sources of motivation for risin...
Wed, Nov 17 2021, 10:39 AM
29 working/business days left in 2021. Some MLOs, who can shift their client’s refi closings, are thinking about the tax implications of closing this ...
Wed, Nov 17 2021, 10:31 AM
Residential construction numbers were mixed in October. The U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development report an increase in c...
Wed, Nov 17 2021, 10:26 AM
After its 5.8 percent jump the previous week, the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA's) Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage application vol...
Wed, Nov 17 2021, 9:40 AM
Last Wednesday brought the sharpest sell-off to the bond market in over a month. Bonds continued to weaken on the next two relevant trading days (Mon...
Tue, Nov 16 2021, 4:15 PM
MBS Outperform on Curve Steepening and Corporate Issuance
The yield curve has been almost exclusively in "fl...
Tue, Nov 16 2021, 3:34 PM
Mortgage rates continued higher again today, despite a fairly flat performance in the bond market. Specifically, the mortgage-backed securities (MBS) ...
Tue, Nov 16 2021, 11:52 AM
Broker and Lender Services and Products 163,000 pints of Guinness are wasted in facial hair each year , according to the Irish brewery, which commissi...
Tue, Nov 16 2021, 11:26 AM
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is expecting that a higher volume of new home sales occurred in October than in the previous month, even as pur...
Tue, Nov 16 2021, 11:20 AM
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) said builder confidence in the new home sales market increased in November for the third consecutive ...
Tue, Nov 16 2021, 9:52 AM
This morning's Retail Sales report--arguably the week's headliner--came in stronger than expected, and significantly stronger than the previous month....
Mon, Nov 15 2021, 3:44 PM
After hitting the lowest levels in over a month last Tuesday, mortgage rates have been moving higher fairly quickly each day since then. Most of the d...
Mon, Nov 15 2021, 3:44 PM
Defensive Until Further Notice
Bonds sold off early and often to begin the new week. Selling pressure rampe...
Mon, Nov 15 2021, 10:57 AM
The National Association of Realtors® (NAR), holding its annual conference in San Diego, heard from chief economist Lawrence Yun about the prospects f...
Mon, Nov 15 2021, 10:54 AM
This morning I head to Kansas for the MBAKC annual membership luncheon later this week. Home price appreciation is doing just fine in Kansas City , an...
Mon, Nov 15 2021, 9:46 AM
Bonds were unchanged on Friday after selling off aggressively on Thursday. At first glance, that could be taken as confirmation of the weakness, but ...
Fri, Nov 12 2021, 4:48 PM
Lots of Apparent Drama For an "Unchanged" Day
The morning's headline proclaimed that today was essentially a...
Fri, Nov 12 2021, 4:26 PM
Several sources for mortgage rate data are doing consumers a major disservice this week. At least two of them are claiming that the average top tier 3...
Fri, Nov 12 2021, 1:21 PM
Foreclosure filings increased in the fourth month following the July 31 expiration of the pandemic related moratorium. ATTOM says those filings were u...
