Tue, Aug 23 2022, 3:32 PM
Today's mortgage rates are roughly in line with yesterday's for the average lender. Some are in better shape while others are slightly worse off depe...
Mon, Aug 22 2022, 4:01 PM
At the end of July, the prevailing concern in the mortgage industry was that rates were falling at an unhealthy pace. The good news is that as we app...
Fri, Aug 19 2022, 4:45 PM
The average mortgage rate headline among major news networks suggests things improved this week. The average headline is wrong . Don't blame the new...
Thu, Aug 18 2022, 4:36 PM
It was a very boring day for mortgage rates. There was no meaningful change versus yesterday's latest levels and there were almost no instances of mi...
Wed, Aug 17 2022, 4:34 PM
Citing "surprising reasons" in a headline is only a few steps above "one weird trick" on the click-bait scale, but in today's case, it's warranted. ...
Tue, Aug 16 2022, 4:22 PM
Saying "ahead of Fed Minutes" in a headline about rates is a fairly cheap trick for a few reasons, or at least it can be. In today's case, it probabl...
Mon, Aug 15 2022, 5:11 PM
After rising above 6% in June and falling briefly below 5% by August 1st, mortgage rates have been calming down and staying slightly flatter in the bi...
Fri, Aug 12 2022, 5:05 PM
Thu, Aug 11 2022, 5:56 PM
When it comes to mortgage rates, Thursdays frequently lend themselves to a discussion about fact versus fiction (or "delayed fact" as it may be) in ne...
Wed, Aug 10 2022, 5:37 PM
First thing's first: we deal in extremely granular terms when it comes to mortgage rate movement here. If you're just looking for an idea of how toda...
Tue, Aug 9 2022, 5:03 PM
Mortgage rates had a bad day last Friday, rising at a very fast pace and ultimately making it almost all the way back to the previous week's highs. T...
Fri, Aug 5 2022, 6:55 PM
The big monthly jobs report from the Labor Department (officially "The Employment Situation) is one of the most reliable sources of volatility for int...
Thu, Aug 4 2022, 11:01 AM
Regular readers are all too familiar with my fairly regular habit of explaining discrepancies between reality and the typical mortgage rate headlines ...
Wed, Aug 3 2022, 2:10 PM
We've devoted lots of time and space recently to discussing the uncommon mortgage rate environment recently. The abbreviated thesis can be reduced to...
Tue, Aug 2 2022, 4:53 PM
Mortgage rates leapt higher at a record pace today--a statement that sounds a bit scarier than it really is by the time we consider the context. The ...
Fri, Jul 29 2022, 6:09 PM
Thu, Jul 28 2022, 5:23 PM
Mortgage rates have been all over the map recently, both in terms of their movement and in their variation between lenders. It's not altogether uncom...
Wed, Jul 27 2022, 5:59 PM
The Federal Reserve concluded one of its 8 regularly scheduled meetings in 2022 today. As expected, they announced a rate hike of 0.75%. But if you s...
Tue, Jul 26 2022, 4:23 PM
Some quick housekeeping before we dig into the headline: mortgage rates are slightly higher so far this week. The increases were in place on Monday. ...
Fri, Jul 22 2022, 4:50 PM
The market came into the week with a big focus on the scheduled policy announcement from the European Central Bank (ECB). While our focus remains on ...
Thu, Jul 21 2022, 3:38 PM
Thursday brought the much-anticipated policy announcement from the European Central Bank (ECB). While our focus remains on mortgage rates in an entir...
Tue, Jul 19 2022, 4:25 PM
Mortgage rates are based primarily on the price of mortgage-backed securities (MBS), which are essentially bonds consisting of numerous similar mortga...
Fri, Jul 15 2022, 5:02 PM
It was a week for paradoxes on several fronts, most notably when mortgage rates moved lower just after the Fed floated the idea of an even bigger hike...
Thu, Jul 14 2022, 4:43 PM
A week ago today, we saw one of the most glaring examples of the popular Freddie Mac mortgage rate survey sending mixed signals to reporters and consu...
Wed, Jul 13 2022, 3:40 PM
Ask anyone who knows a thing or two about how interest rates work and they'll tell you: inflation is the enemy! What caused the record high rates b...
Tue, Jul 12 2022, 2:43 PM
The first two days of the week have been fairly boring for mortgage rates relative to recent volatility. There's been a bit of friendly movement on b...
Mon, Jul 11 2022, 5:25 PM
Mortgage rates moved sharply higher last week relative to where they ended the previous week. In the 3 weeks before that, rates fell at one of the fa...
Fri, Jul 8 2022, 4:43 PM
Most of the following is an updated version of the same coverage from yesterday. Little changed today apart from the big jobs report pushing rates hi...
Thu, Jul 7 2022, 3:46 PM
Without a shadow of a doubt, mortgage rates are noticeably higher today than they were yesterday. They were also noticeably higher yesterday compared...
Wed, Jul 6 2022, 5:10 PM
Mortgage rates have been moving lower for the past 3 weeks after hitting the highest levels since 2008 in the middle of June. This was a larger-scale...
Tue, Jul 5 2022, 4:14 PM
Mortgage rates hit 5.5% last Friday for the top tier conforming 30yr fixed scenario at the average lender. That was the lowest since June 8th, just...
Fri, Jul 1 2022, 5:18 PM
Mortgage rates have been volatile in 2022. Most of that volatility has played out in the form of higher rates. The past 2 weeks have been a notable ex...
Thu, Jun 30 2022, 4:45 PM
Inflation is the enemy of low interest rates. As such, the mortgage market was waiting patiently for this week's key inflation report released this m...
Wed, Jun 29 2022, 5:02 PM
Mortgage rates are driven by the bond market and bonds have been under tremendous pressure due to inflation. As such, when a major inflation report c...
Tue, Jun 28 2022, 5:02 PM
After moving up sharply on Friday, mortgage rates weren't significantly higher yesterday. That represented a bit of a disconnect with underlying bond...
Mon, Jun 27 2022, 4:12 PM
Last week was significantly calmer than the previous week for rates (and many other things in the financial market, for that matter). After hitting t...
Fri, Jun 24 2022, 5:00 PM
In 2020 and 2021, housing boomed and rates plummeted at a pace that many considered to be unsustainable . 2022's role is to take things back in the o...
Thu, Jun 23 2022, 4:06 PM
Most of today's mortgage rate headlines suggest that rates are higher this week. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Well, a few things could b...
Wed, Jun 22 2022, 5:41 PM
When rates jump by some of the biggest amounts ever to the highest levels in more than a decade, it sets us up for some equally impressive corrections...
Tue, Jun 21 2022, 5:04 PM
Mortgage rates surged well into the 6% range last week before quickly cooling down after Wednesday's Fed announcement. The average top tier rate was ...
Fri, Jun 17 2022, 8:06 PM
In a year where mortgage rate volatility has been extreme, this week made everything else look tame by comparison. While it will never show up in wee...
Thu, Jun 16 2022, 4:37 PM
Mortgage rates are still in the process of bouncing back from an ultra-sharp spike to the highest levels since 2008 seen on Tuesday. Clarity from the...
Wed, Jun 15 2022, 6:48 PM
The pace of the spike in mortgage rates over the past several days has been nothing but staggering --especially considering it began when rates were ...
Tue, Jun 14 2022, 5:31 PM
Yes, mortgage rates really moved above 6% yesterday for the first time since 2008. Yesterday's coverage addressed the core of the matter (definitely ...
Mon, Jun 13 2022, 4:57 PM
It's hard to quantify just how bad today was for mortgage rates because there's no quality day-over-day mortgage rate data from before 2009 (when we c...
Fri, Jun 10 2022, 10:58 PM
2022 has already had its fair share of bad news for mortgage rates, but this week was not to be outdone. It began as just another reasonably bad week...
Thu, Jun 9 2022, 3:18 PM
Mortgage rates moved higher this morning as the bond market reacted to a new policy announcement from the European Central Bank (ECB). If you're thin...
Wed, Jun 8 2022, 4:48 PM
Rates jumped significantly higher last week and have continued drifting up at a gradual pace since then. The average lender remains in territory that...
Tue, Jun 7 2022, 3:52 PM
Mortgage rates are primarily determined by mortgage-specific bonds (MBS, or mortgage-backed securities to be exact). MBS share similarities with the ...
Mon, Jun 6 2022, 3:53 PM
Last week's mortgage rate momentum served to reverse 3 of the best consecutive weeks in nearly a year--themselves a reversal of the worst 4 months sin...