Category: Mortgage News Daily

Posted To: Pipeline PressSome are fond of saying, “Zillow’s never set foot in a house.” But the company is a force to be reckoned with, especially now that it is in the process of buying a lender (MLOA). And regardless of your opinion is about services like Zillow’s Zestimates, there is no doubt they have changed the way Americans research housing prices. How accurate are online pricing calculators? While I’m on the topic, by several measures housing is slumping. Pending sales are down Y-o-Y for seven straight months, existing sales have fallen four months in a row, home price increases are slowing, as are starts, homebuilder share prices are struggling, and inventory looks to be finally bottoming. Yes, rates are higher than a year ago, but have been stable for several months. Experts…(read more)Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

Posted To: MND NewsWireConsumers appear to be increasingly upbeat about their jobs and their income, but dramatically less so about getting involved in the real estate market. After two months of depressed results, Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI) gathered some oomph, rising 1.5 points to 88.0. The Index, based on responses to the company’s National Housing Survey (NHS), rose despite continued negative sentiment in its housing components. The net share of Americans who told survey takers they are not concerned about losing their jobs jumped 15 percentage points in August, more than recovering from an 11 point plunge in July and reaching a new survey high. Only 10 percent of respondents expressed any job insecurity. The net share of respondents who said their income has increased significantly…(read more)Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

Posted To: MND NewsWireNearly all of America’s home builders say they are facing significant shortages of skilled labor , both in the form of direct labor and as subcontractors. The lack of all types of carpenters is especially critical. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) included a set of special questions about labor availability in its NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Survey in July and found that an inadequate supply of both labor and subcontractors was even more widespread than in July 2017. Paul Emrath, writing in NAHB’s Eye on Housing blog says builders were asked about labor availability in 15 specific occupations and found shortages of labor directly employed by builders were at least fairly widespread for each of the 15 occupations, ranging from a low of 47 percent for building maintenance…(read more)Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

Posted To: Pipeline PressIn September, major league baseball teams expand their 25-man roster to 40 as teams scramble for the playoffs in October. In the mortgage business, however, rosters are being cut in the 2nd and 3rd quarters as lenders reversed course and achieved a $580 per loan profit versus the $118 loss in the first quarter. Will the industry follow baseball into the fall and expand or contract their rosters as the purchase market cools off? “RIFs” continue, the latest semi-publicized one coming from the non-delegated correspondent sales group at SunTrust. (Rumor has SunTrust moving to an inside sales model for that group.) And Acopia announced a “repositioning.” “As we strategically realign our plans and investments to support our growing retail brands, we have decided to exit…(read more)Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

Posted To: MBS CommentaryI’ve been pretty bearish on bonds, in general, since the end of 2016. Against that backdrop, we can of course still look for tactical opportunities, but there are also times to reinforce our defensive stance. The most recent bounce in rates/yields near the end of August was one of those instances where “defense” made more sense. With yields operating near 2.90%–the top of the recent range– it still makes sense , but the longer we see bonds resist breaking to higher levels, the more we may wonder if we’re going to see a friendly bounce occur INSIDE the broader consolidation range. In other words, maybe we’ll see a short-term ceiling at the teal line instead of the upper yellow line. There’s already some technical support for that idea from fast stochastics (short…(read more)Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

Posted To: MND NewsWireHousing trivia probably isn’t a major hobby, but if you are into it, it is your birthday and the U.S. Census Bureau brought a present. The Bureau has just released the results of its 2017 American Housing Survey . Not to make light of it, the biennial AHS is a huge aid to researchers or anyone who needs information on the size, composition, condition, and amenities that exist in the nation’s housing stock. But it is also kind of fun. The release includes national level data and more granular information on seven states (California, Colorado, Florida, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas) and 41 metropolitan areas , a number which includes most major American cities. Among the types of data that are available (and can be manipulated by the user to create custom tables) are breakdowns of housing…(read more)Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

Posted To: Mortgage Rate WatchMortgage rates were sideways to slightly lower today, depending on the lender. The discrepancy stems from mid-day bond market gains that were just barely enough for a few lenders to go to the trouble of revising their mortgage rate sheets before the end of business. In other words, if bonds were to hold in similar territory by tomorrow morning, we’d likely see most lenders offering slightly better deals. There’s a big question mark over tomorrow morning, however, due to the important jobs report set to be released at 8:30am ET. This is traditionally the most important economic report of any given month when it comes to interest rate reactions. While it can occasionally fail to cause a stir, it should always be respected for it’s volatility-inducing potential. The timing of the data means that…(read more)Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

Posted To: MBS CommentaryBonds were weaker in the overnight session, but only slightly. The onset of domestic trading saw a stronger contingent of traders lined up to buy bonds at the 8:20am CME open . The 8:15am ADP data was weaker. It may have helped a bit, but bonds were keen to wait another 5 minutes before the first noticeable rally of the morning. We drifted sideways from there until weakness in European and US equities spilled over into a risk-off trade that benefited bonds. NY Fed’s Williams was out with several moderately helpful comments shortly thereafter (discussed in today’s Huddle video ). From a technical standpoint, today’s modest gains keep yields in the same old range, albeit right in line with the ceiling for the 3rd straight day. This puts us in a position to rally back into the range…(read more)Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

Posted To: MBS CommentaryThe first two trading days of September introduce a somewhat serious threat to the calm, sideways range that dominated the past 3 weeks. Granted, the rate spike in late July introduced a similar threat to the similar sideways range and we lived to tell the tale, but the bond bulls definitely made a weaker showing this time. 10yr yields only spent a few days prodding the floor around 2.80-2.82% in 10yr yields. Back in June/July, yields touched that floor on each of the 4 weeks that the range remained intact. Today’s specific threats came from Brexit-related news and a glut of corporate issuance . A stock sell-off at 9:30am helped bonds find their footing, but it wasn’t enough to motivate a bond rally. 10yr yields drifted sideways through the afternoon just over 2.90%–right on the edge…(read more)Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.

Posted To: MND NewsWireWill appraisals soon need to indicate a home’s driving distance to the nearest cold-brew drive-through? Could be. According to a new study by the Harvard Business School, when an outlet for Starbucks opens in a community, home prices in that ZIP code rise by 0.5 percent within one year. The information emerged from a larger study on gentrification which was conducted using census data as well as data from Yelp . The study’s authors say that Yelp may be a potential new tool for policymakers to monitor gentrification, the process of rebuilding homes and businesses in an area followed by an influx of more affluent residents. As this is often at the expense of earlier, often less well-off residents, it tends to be a volatile subject. The researchers say one big issue is the lack of consistent data…(read more)Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.