Week

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 […]

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Jobless Claims Dropped Sharply Last Week

While employment is gaining momentum, layoffs are still happening and are significantly elevated compared to pre-pandemic. www.nar.realtor – Research

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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Mortgage Rates Making Steady Progress Over The Past Week

Mortgage rates are off to a decent start this week with the average lender offering slightly better terms compared to last Friday. The progress actually began earlier last week. On Tuesday morning, rates were at their highest levels in exactly 2 months after jumping at a relatively quick pace in response to the Georgia senate […]

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Nice Bounce Back For Mortgage Rates After Rocky Start This Week

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch Earlier in the month, mortgage rates rose somewhat abruptly as lenders got in a defensive position ahead of the election. They’d learned in 2016 just how volatile the bond market (the key ingredient in the rate movement equation) could be after an election and it made sense to minimize exposure […]

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Next Week Could be Crazy (Obviously); Fannie/Freddie Report Higher Profits; Forbearances Increasing or Just Reinstating?

Both GSEs reported financial results for the third quarter of 2020 that were significantly higher than both their Q2 2020 and their 2019 numbers . Fannie Mae’s net and its comprehensive incomes were $ 4.2 billion and Freddie Mac’s net and comprehensive incomes came in at $ 2.5 billion and $ 2.4 billion, respectively. Fannie […]

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New Claims for State Unemployment Benefits Increased Last Week

Unadjusted new jobless claims totaled 857,148 in the week ending September 5, an increase of 20,140 (2.4%) from the previous week. www.nar.realtor – Research

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Layoffs declined slightly to 1 million last week

A drop in claims for unemployment checks implies that even with new layoffs there are job creations and people are able to come off unemployment. www.nar.realtor – Research

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