Rates
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 […]
Homeownership Rates Fall Across the Board
The U.S. Census Bureau says the nation’s Homeownership Rate was at 65.4 percent in the second quarter of 2021. This is down from both the previous quarter’s 65.6 percent, and a year earlier when it was reported at 67.9 percent. However, the Bureau cautions,” When interpreting these estimates and comparing with prior quarters and years, […]
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 […]
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 […]
Mortgage Rates Moving Higher So Far This Week
Mortgage rates are coming off a solid performance last week after having moved to the lowest levels in 5 months by Thursday afternoon. This week is shaping up to be a bit different , however. In fact, as of this afternoon, the average lender has lost most of last week’s improvements. What’s behind the volatility? […]
Mortgage Rates Are Actually LOWER This Week
Mortgage rates hit their lowest levels in a week yesterday and are sideways to slightly lower today, depending on the lender. These facts are not well represented in the news today, where you’re more likely to see stories about rates being much higher this week. What’s up with the discrepancy? As is often the case […]
Biden Appoints New FHFA Director; Rates Are Actually Lower This Week
The White House didn’t waste any time after a Supreme Court ruling allowed it to do so, removing Mark Calabria as Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) late Wednesday. Earlier that day the Court had released their 7-2 ruling that the inability to remove the agency director during a five year term except […]
Homebuilding Dragged Down by Supply Problems; Rates Are Flat And Calm
Housing starts fell back from the annual rate of 1,733,000 units reported for March. Residential starts in April were down 9.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,569,000 units. This was also a slight rollback for the March estimate, which was originally reported at 1,739,000 million units. At that level, they were the […]
Rates Remain Resilient After Inflation Scare
The 70’s and 80’s brought unforgettable economic lessons about inflation. Since then, certain market participants have been watching inflation like hawks , even when they didn’t need to. After the start of the pandemic, the massive amount of fiscal stimulus (covid relief bill) and monetary accommodation from the Fed (bond buying and rate cuts) had […]
Mortgage Rates Are Low and Stable, But Face Bigger Risks Tomorrow
Mortgage rates moved lower today, bringing the average lender to the best levels since late February. Despite the milestone, the day-over-day movement in rates has been pretty mild. Most lenders are making changes that are only noticeable in the form of upfront costs (aka “points”) as opposed to rates themselves. If we use upfront costs […]