Thu, Apr 15 2010, 2:31 PM
Permanent loan modifications through the Making Home Affordable Program increased by over 60,000 in March even as the rate of new entries into the pro...
Wed, Apr 14 2010, 11:32 AM
Representatives of four of the nation's largest mortgage lenders and servicers testified before the House Financial Services Committee yesterday on "S...
Wed, Apr 14 2010, 8:15 AM
Applications for government mortgages dropped substantially last week, following the implementation of an increase in FHA mortgage insurance premiums,...
Wed, Apr 14 2010, 8:13 AM
A busy schedule of data and speakers from the Federal Reserve awaits investors today. Key data include retail sales and the consumer price index an ho...
Wed, Apr 14 2010, 6:32 PM
The Obama Administration today released questions for public comment on the future of the housing finance system, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac...
Tue, Apr 13 2010, 8:04 AM
After three days of gains, US equities are looking to start lower on Tuesday ahead of trade balance data for February. The caution is partly attribute...
Tue, Apr 13 2010, 4:26 PM
Hearings on Subprime Lending and Securitization and Government-Sponsored Enterprises," were conducted last week by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commis...
Mon, Apr 12 2010, 11:17 AM
The Special Inspector General for the HAMP program concludes its report to Secretary Geithner with a series of recommendations including a restatement...
Mon, Apr 12 2010, 8:33 AM
Although Monday begins the week on a slow note in terms of fresh data, the rest of the week is packed with housing data, retail sales, industrial prod...
Fri, Apr 9 2010, 11:10 AM
Sales of bank-owned properties and short sales as a percentage of all existing home sold are again nearing the record levels set last Spring according...
Fri, Apr 9 2010, 8:38 AM
The week ends with a very quiet day, at least in terms of data. Ahead of wholesale inventories, the dollar is weaker and equities are trading higher, ...
Fri, Apr 9 2010, 4:48 PM
Starting on Monday, because the April coupon has already entered into settlement, MBS investors will have to wait until May 1 to see their funds start...
Thu, Apr 8 2010, 11:46 AM
An MBA funding study has documented that the recession and its accompanying unemployment is adversely affecting the formation of new households. Chil...
Thu, Apr 8 2010, 8:23 AM
In the footsteps of weak global markets, US equity futures are sharply lower this morning, further subtracting from yesterday’s losses. “Across-the-bo...
Wed, Apr 7 2010, 12:54 PM
The National Association of Realtors is reporting that sales of vacation homes rose at a greater rate than overall home sales in 2009. Investment-hom...
Wed, Apr 7 2010, 10:54 AM
Refinance application volume dropped as mortgage rates reached their highest level since August 2009. Purchase volume was essentially unchanged relat...
Wed, Apr 7 2010, 9:58 AM
Production profits among independent mortgage bankers and their subsidiaries dipped slightly during the fourth quarter of 2009 according to survey res...
Wed, Apr 7 2010, 8:30 AM
Stock markets are soft and bonds are better bid ahead of afternoon speeches by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and the lone FOMC dissenter Tom H...
Wed, Apr 7 2010, 3:25 PM
"Today the financial crisis looks to be mostly behind us, and the economy seems to have stabilized and is beginning to grow again. But we are far from...
Tue, Apr 6 2010, 10:32 AM
Negative equity, high back-end ratios, and the existence of second liens are just a few of the problems the Solicitor General reports may impede the s...
Tue, Apr 6 2010, 8:22 AM
The dollar is stronger but equity futures and commodity prices are each trading lower. The economic docket is empty this morning but in the afternoon ...
Tue, Apr 6 2010, 2:23 PM
Consumers are still committed to owning a home, but are showing increased cautiousness, regardless of whether they rent, own their homes outright or h...
Mon, Apr 5 2010, 8:34 AM
The Dow closed last Thursday at an 18-month high, and with equity investors now able to react to Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report, the market should o...
Mon, Apr 5 2010, 1:42 PM
The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in February, rose 8.2 percent to 97.6 from a downwardly revised 90...
Fri, Apr 2 2010, 11:13 AM
The Inspector General in charge of monitoring the TARP program has issued the first in a series of audits of the HAMP program. The report finds that ...
Fri, Apr 2 2010, 8:19 AM
After months of waiting for the Employment Report to indicate labor growth in the economy, it looks like it will finally happen … on a day when equity...
Thu, Apr 1 2010, 11:11 AM
Total construction spending fell for a fourth straight month in February to the slowest pace since November 2002. While I do not doubt that constructi...
Thu, Apr 1 2010, 10:54 AM
Freddie Mac's February Volume Summary, released on Thursday, shows that the value of both the corporations total portfolio and its investments portfol...
Thu, Apr 1 2010, 8:17 AM
On the first day of Q2 2010, equity futures in the US are looking for a sharply higher open after investor sentiment was boosted by positive data in A...
Thu, Apr 1 2010, 4:49 PM
The goal of the Federal Reserve's agency MBS program was to provide support to mortgage and housing markets and to foster improved conditions in finan...
Wed, Mar 31 2010, 11:29 AM
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced over $49 million in grants to state level public housing agencies to use in an ongoing p...
Wed, Mar 31 2010, 10:40 AM
Fannie Mae's mortgage investment portfolio shrank for the second straight month in February. This will not last much longer though. On Februrary 10, ...
Wed, Mar 31 2010, 7:53 AM
Markets are flat to roughly lower as cautious investors await the results of the ADP private employment report and a key index of the services and man...
Wed, Mar 31 2010, 7:27 AM
The reality of a purchase driven housing market is setting in as the refinance index failed to make much progress in Q1 2010 even as mortgage rates he...
Tue, Mar 30 2010, 8:26 AM
After volatile trading that ended positive yesterday, markets are looking for further gains this morning ahead of key housing data. 90 minutes before ...
Tue, Mar 30 2010, 4:44 PM
David M.Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s, communicated the findings of the report quite well. “The report is mixed. While...
Mon, Mar 29 2010, 8:21 AM
90 minutes before the opening bell sounds to begin a holiday-shortened week, equity futures are sharply upwards. The Dow looks to open 52 points highe...
Mon, Mar 29 2010, 3:58 PM
Today, adding to the first Housing Finance Agency Innovation Fund for the Hardest Hit Housing Markets (the "HFA Hardest Hit Fund"), the Obama Administ...
Mon, Mar 29 2010, 3:54 PM
The OCC/OTS metrics report for the last quarter of 2009 confirms the continued increase in delinquent loans but notes that servicers have expanded ret...
Fri, Mar 26 2010, 12:50 PM
Today, as part of its ongoing commitment to continuously improve housing relief efforts, the Obama Administration announced adjustments to the Home Af...
Fri, Mar 26 2010, 11:10 AM
"The near- to mid-term outlook for the broader housing sector continues to be negative, with the main driver the ongoing economic pressure on homeowne...
Fri, Mar 26 2010, 11:03 AM
HUD announced today that Recovery Act funds have allowed state and local housing agencies to improve or renovate 150,000 low-income housing units whil...
Fri, Mar 26 2010, 8:09 AM
Equity futures are pointing upwards after it was announced that European Union leaders came up with a rescue package for Greece.
According to the ...
Thu, Mar 25 2010, 12:26 PM
Ben Bernanke is sitting before the House Financial Services Committee, sharing his "official" thoughts on the Fed's exit strategy. Most of his testimo...
Thu, Mar 25 2010, 8:09 AM
Equity and commodity prices are looking upwards this morning ahead of weekly labor data. 90 minutes before the opening bell, Dow futures are trading 3...
Thu, Mar 25 2010, 4:59 PM
For the second to last time, the Federal Reserve today reported on their weekly purchases of agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS). Obviously everyo...
Thu, Mar 25 2010, 2:50 PM
"We have come up with some interesting ideas ... to enable some additional people to participate in this program, who may be unemployed or who need pr...
Wed, Mar 24 2010, 10:56 AM
Bank of America has announced a new program that will assist delinquent borrowers by reducing principal balances in a two step process. Eligible borr...
Wed, Mar 24 2010, 10:53 AM
The Federal Housing Finance Agency reports that home prices dropped 0.6 percent in January from December figures. Those December figures were also re...
Wed, Mar 24 2010, 8:18 AM
The US dollar is strengthening and equity futures are sharply lower this morning ahead of key housing and durable goods data. Yesterday the Dow streng...
