Rates
FHA Will Keep Mortgage Insurance Fund Rates Stable
The newly installed Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released her first quarterly report on the agency to Congress on Tuesday. A key point regarded the Federal Housing Administration’s Single Family Mutual Mortgage Insurance (MMI) Fund. Secretary Marcia L. Fudge said the fund has remained resilient despite the financial challenges faced […]
Mortgage Rates End Week Near 1-Year Highs
Today ended up being fairly uneventful for mortgage rates –a welcome reprieve in the context of recent volatility. Actually, “volatility” is putting it mildly. 2021 has been a total rout for longer-term rates, even if 30yr fixed mortgages in the low-to-mid 3% range are historically excellent. That “historical context” argument is good perspective for the […]
Lumber Prices and Rising Rates Take a Toll on Builder Confidence
Escalating costs took a toll on builder confidence this month. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) said its Housing Market Index dipped two points from its February level. At 82 it is down 8 points from the all-time high it established last November. NAHB’s chief economist Robert Dietz said, while there is still a high […]
Mortgage Rates Modestly Lower, But Hoping For More
At this point, no one should be surprised to hear that mortgage rates have moved significantly higher in 2021–especially in the past few weeks. There are several reasons for this, but the easiest way to make sense of it all is to say “rates were ultra low when covid was at its worst and they’ve […]
Forbearances Tick Up; Relief Extended; Brutal Week For Rates But There’s Hope (Hopefully)
Rising rates have been on the menu for months, but the drama kicked into a higher gear this week. Maybe you heard about this? We’ve certainly been discussing it in recent newsletters ( especially last week’s ). The rising rate narrative hit the mainstream this week as it was widely credited for doing damage to […]
Brutal Week For Rates But There’s Hope (Hopefully)
Rising rates have been on the menu for months, but the drama kicked into a higher gear this week. Maybe you heard about this? We’ve certainly been discussing it in recent newsletters ( especially last week’s ). The rising rate narrative hit the mainstream this week as it was widely credited for doing damage to […]
February Easily The Worst Month For Rates in Long Time
Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch There are still 4 business days left in the month of February and thus still 4 days for the bond market to undergo an epic recovery that helps mortgage rates come back down. But traders and market-watchers alike have pined for–if not outright expected–such a recovery several times in the […]
Existing Sales Rise, But Inventory is a Drag; Rates Surging, How Bad Could it Get?
There’s no precedent for the winning streak enjoyed by mortgage rates in the 2nd half of 2020. We’ve never seen so many new record lows in the same year, and we never spent as much time at those lows (not even close). All of the above makes it easy to get lulled into a false […]
Expirations Help Forbearance Numbers; Rates Under Pressure Despite Weak Jobs Report
Economic data is traditionally one of the key contributors to interest rate movement. Of the regularly-scheduled reports, none has more market-moving street cred than The Employment Situation–otherwise known as “the jobs report” or simply NFP (due to its headline component: Non-Farm Payrolls). The relationship between econ data and rates can wax and wane. Covid definitely […]
Mortgage Rates Surge After Powell Comments
Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch Mortgage rates jumped quickly today after Q&A session with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. What did he say to cause such drama? Actually, it’s more about what he didn’t say. For some reason, market participants were expecting (or at least hoping) that Powell would say something to address the recent […]