Covid
Rates Move Swiftly Lower Due to New Covid Variant; Delinquencies Remain Elevated
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.1.1.529 (designated now as “Omicron”), a new covid variant hit the market like a ton of bricks on Friday morning. 48 hours earlier, Google had never heard of […]
COVID Concerns Drive Rates Lower, Refi Volume Rises
Refinancing continues to support mortgage application activity while purchase applications continued to weaken during the week ended July 23. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) says its Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 5.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from the prior week and the unadjusted index was up 6 […]
Exhausting Home Prices; No Big Digital Push From Covid; Big News For Refi Rates As Adverse Market Fee is Removed
It was big, bad news when it came out last summer. Almost a year later, the 50 basis point “adverse market fee,” which affected a majority of refinance mortgages has been eliminated! Backstory In early August 2020, Fannie and Freddie (who collectively buy or guarantee a vast majority of all mortgages) announced that virtually all […]
Rates Ignore Trump’s Covid Diagnosis. Has The Bond Market Gone Crazy?
After weeks of incredibly subdued volatility, the bond market (which dictates rates) is starting to show some signs of life, but not for the same old reasons. Inflation? Inflation is one of the oldest and most significant reasons to freak out about interest rates. It was by far and away the dominant source of drama […]