Fri, Oct 29 2021, 5:53 PM
For anyone following interest rates very closely in 2013, the taper tantrum is not easily forgotten. It describes the bond market's knee-jerk response...
Fri, Oct 29 2021, 2:53 PM
Nice Recovery as Month-End Trades Roll In
Month-end trading isn't always helpful for bonds. Indeed, that's ...
Fri, Oct 29 2021, 11:39 AM
The Millennial Generation, adults born between 1981 and 1996, were late bloomers when it came to buying a home. They came of age just in time to be cl...
Fri, Oct 29 2021, 11:33 AM
There was a big jump in the incidence of mortgage fraud over the course of the last year. CoreLogic's annual report for the second quarter of 2021 rep...
Fri, Oct 29 2021, 11:27 AM
I got some exciting news yesterday: Snickers are gluten free! Actually I don’t care (the more gluten the better… does the government allow us trick or...
Fri, Oct 29 2021, 9:56 AM
It's an interesting morning in the bond market--at least for those of us who are interesting both in general rate momentum and nitty gritty MBS moveme...
Thu, Oct 28 2021, 4:45 PM
Mortgage rates finally ended this week's winning streak today. In light of the general upward trend in rates over the past month, bond yields (which t...
Thu, Oct 28 2021, 4:30 PM
Rally Week Finds Its Limit After ECB And Auction
Bonds were having a great week by the end of the day on Wed...
Thu, Oct 28 2021, 11:17 AM
There were further indications in August that home price gains are beginning to slow. The appreciation rate of the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (F...
Thu, Oct 28 2021, 11:04 AM
The 8.1 percent increase in pending home sales in August, the first gain in three months, didn't start a trend. The National Association of Realtors® ...
Thu, Oct 28 2021, 10:59 AM
I have to go to Target later today to buy Halloween candy because I went to Target last week and bought Halloween candy. Get it? Here’s another questi...
Thu, Oct 28 2021, 10:54 AM
From armchair economists to respected bond market analysts, there was a lot of "chatter" about the potential for today's GDP reading to come in much l...
Wed, Oct 27 2021, 4:42 PM
Mortgage rates are in recovery mode so far this week. Today brought the best improvements so far with the average lender's rates falling back to the l...
Wed, Oct 27 2021, 10:58 AM
While huge blocks of servicing are hitting the market, Cenlar has had better days than yesterday. (“We take seriously our regulatory obligations and w...
Wed, Oct 27 2021, 10:53 AM
Applications for purchase mortgages recovered from a 5 percent drop the prior week to drive a small increase in overall volume during the week ended O...
Wed, Oct 27 2021, 9:06 AM
Bonds managed to make positive headway for a third straight trading day on Tuesday, but the gains weren't enough to break yields below the prevailing ...
Tue, Oct 26 2021, 4:08 PM
Mortgage rates hit 6 month highs by the end of last week, but they've been cautiously recovering since then. The rebound traces a similar pattern in t...
Tue, Oct 26 2021, 4:08 PM
Another Green Day, But Can We Trust It?
Bonds were briefly weaker mid-morning, but rallied back to close at ...
Tue, Oct 26 2021, 10:49 AM
Freddie Mac reported this week that its total mortgage portfolio increased at an annualized rate of 17.4 percent in September compared to a 23.7 perce...
Tue, Oct 26 2021, 10:48 AM
Sales of newly constructed homes surged unexpectedly in September, reaching the highest rate since March . However, a downward revision in the August ...
Tue, Oct 26 2021, 10:46 AM
Lenders and servicers don’t like weather extremes. Hurricane season is nearly over. While the East Coast is bracing for a storm, however, it’s feast o...
Tue, Oct 26 2021, 9:28 AM
At the start of the trading session, Treasuries have the distinction of trading through the overnight hours with the lowest volume and volatility in m...
Mon, Oct 25 2021, 4:17 PM
Nice Recovery, But Big-Picture Damage Remains
Monday could have been worse. Bonds started out in weaker ter...
Mon, Oct 25 2021, 3:45 PM
Mortgage rates began the day right in line with Friday afternoon's latest levels. Lenders likely would have been able to offer lower rates if the bond...
Mon, Oct 25 2021, 10:50 AM
Given my emails and hallway chatter in San Diego last week, what’s on people’s minds? The state of the housing market is one, and Ivy Zelman, CEO of Z...
Mon, Oct 25 2021, 10:48 AM
10yr yields hit a long-term ceiling of 1.776 on March 30th, 2021 as bonds quickly priced in vaccine efficacy and fiscal policy. Several sideways mont...
Fri, Oct 22 2021, 4:45 PM
Solid Afternoon Bounce, But Context Matters
There's surely some great analogy to be made about perspective (...
Fri, Oct 22 2021, 10:31 AM
Semper Fi! Tomorrow marks the 38th anniversary of the 1983 bombing in Beirut of a U.S. Marine barracks in the largest conventional explosive blast in ...
Fri, Oct 22 2021, 10:04 AM
To buy the dip or not to buy the dip (in bond prices). That is the question faced by traders today as 10yr yields hit the 1.70% technical level in af...
Thu, Oct 21 2021, 4:27 PM
Existing home sales resumed an upward trajectory in September after dipping 2.0 percent in August. The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) said sa...
Thu, Oct 21 2021, 4:21 PM
Fear of The I-Word
Today's 5yr TIPS auction met with heavy demand for inflation protection. While that didn...
Thu, Oct 21 2021, 10:57 AM
Thousands of people in the residential lending biz headed to the San Diego aerodrome and flew home. Plenty were sore from wearing dress shoes everywhe...
Thu, Oct 21 2021, 10:51 AM
Considering yields have pushed to new long-term highs on 3 out of the past 3 days, it's safe to say that bonds are "trending" as opposed to flat/sidew...
Wed, Oct 20 2021, 4:24 PM
Sideways to Slightly Weaker After Another Long-Term High
10yr yields hit a 5-month high early in the overnig...
Wed, Oct 20 2021, 3:44 PM
Mortgage rates began moving off longer term lows in early August and that trend has continued ever since. The September 22nd Fed Announcement (and pre...
Wed, Oct 20 2021, 10:31 AM
Today has the dubious distinction of being exactly 2 weeks before the Fed announcement (the one that's likely to contain the official tapering announc...
Wed, Oct 20 2021, 10:27 AM
Someone here in San Diego asked an audience, “Who out there misses their Blackberry?” and many raised their hands. Technology… an interesting thing. H...
Wed, Oct 20 2021, 10:22 AM
The volume of applications for mortgages to purchase newly constructed homes plunged in September, falling 16.2 percent from the September 2020 level ...
Wed, Oct 20 2021, 10:20 AM
Mortgage application volume fell sharply last week, the second decline of more than 6 percent in the past three weeks. Refinancing was down for the fo...
Tue, Oct 19 2021, 4:30 PM
The Trend is Not Your Friend
October has been one of those unpleasant months where bonds have several reason...
Tue, Oct 19 2021, 3:48 PM
Mortgage rates hit their highest levels in months yesterday as bonds lost ground at a brisk pace to start the new week. Bonds--specifically mortgage-b...
Tue, Oct 19 2021, 2:08 PM
Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs) will be expanding their low-income refinance programs to include those making at or below 100 percent of an...
Tue, Oct 19 2021, 10:36 AM
Both permits and housing starts fell in September following an unanticipated increase the previous month. Where the August gains were driven primarily...
Tue, Oct 19 2021, 10:34 AM
The MBA's conference, which began with a capacity crowd at mPower , is packed with meetings and sessions, and I am sure glad that I’m not going betwee...
Tue, Oct 19 2021, 10:01 AM
It's an interesting time for rates because the market collectively knows where it should be going (i.e. toward even higher rates), yet seems to be dra...
Mon, Oct 18 2021, 4:20 PM
Decent Recovery After a Rocky Start
Bonds sold off right at the start of the overnight session with yields n...
Mon, Oct 18 2021, 3:24 PM
Mortgage rates had a mixed showing last week. They started out high before improving through Thursday. Finally, they took a step back up on Friday. No...
Mon, Oct 18 2021, 12:21 PM
Members of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) are holding their annual convention in San Diego this week and the opening day was accompanied by th...
Mon, Oct 18 2021, 12:19 PM
Home builders apparently pushed aside current concerns about supply chain disruptions to display increased confidence in the new home market in Octobe...
Mon, Oct 18 2021, 10:20 AM
One discussion topic here at the MBA’s annual conference, besides how rates are pressing higher, is how wonderful the San Diego weather is. But there ...
