Category: Mortgage News Daily

Posted To: Pipeline PressWhether bond loans (we all know how management loves those), non-QM, reverse mortgages, or high loan to values, originators everywhere are working hard for their borrowers and being creative in a compliant manner. For example, from Minnesota Eric Otterness writes, “Recently my team and I closed on a loan for a first-time buyer in Minneapolis where we had eight down payment assistance programs layered on top. I’m pretty sure that $86,000 on a $190,000 house is a new world record! It was fun and I doubt it has ever been matched or will ever be beaten. If anyone knows of a transaction where there were more, let them come forward and we will stop claiming the new world record!” Lender Products and Services Mr. Cooper Correspondent is excited regarding the pending acquisition of…(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 CommentaryBetween the mid-term elections earlier this week and the simple tradeflow move following the Fed yesterday, bond markets have had their chance to make any necessary adjustments before the next big data point coming up next week. CPI (the consumer price index) isn’t the be all, end all market mover, but it’s important right now because it has a chance to confirm or reject the notion that the strongest wage growth in a decade will actually translate to an uptick in prices. If we’re to believe this morning’s Producer Price data, consumers should certainly be prepared to pay more. If CPI continues in a 2.2-2.3% year over year range (at the core level), that would actually be a bond-friendly development. It would mean producers aren’t able to pass on their higher input costs…(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 moved back up today, leaving them right in line with the highest levels of the week. These also happen to be the highest levels since early 2011, but let’s not get bogged down in unfortunate details! Rates will definitely move lower at some point in the future. That’s the way economic cycles work–and they always work eventually. The big questions are twofold: how long will it take for fortunes to change and how high will rates go in the meantime? In terms of timing, we could be looking at anywhere from a few months to more than year before seeing a shift that’s big enough to get excited about. That said, there will still be pockets of positivity at times, even in a rising rate environment. Whatever the case may be, the higher rates go, the closer we’re getting to the end of…(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 CommentaryIt’s hard not to give the Fed a wide berth as the biggest potential market mover on any given Fed day. Today was a Fed day! We talked about the outside possibility of the Fed statement having an impact on markets. Markets indeed made SOME movement, but looked at under anything less powerful than a microscope, today’s moves were fairly small. Still, it did seem that bonds were leveling off before the Fed only to move higher in yield afterward. So, did the Fed matter after all? Some traders took the absence of change in the statement to mean the Fed isn’t worried about recent stock market weakness or trade-related uncertainty. The supposed implication is that the Fed was unfriendly to rates today because they didn’t say anything new and rate-friendly, but that’s a big stretch…(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 affordability crept down again in the third quarter of 2018 reaching, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), a ten-year low. The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) indicates that 56.4 percent of new and existing homes that were sold nationwide during the quarter were affordable to families earning the U.S. median income of $71,000 . In the second quarter 57.1 percent of homes were affordable by this measure. Affordability, according to the 2 nd quarter reading, is the lowest since mid-2008. The HOI reacted to the combination of a 5 basis point increase in the mortgage interest rate to 4.72 percent over the course of the reporting period, coupled ongoing appreciation in home values. The median price of a home sold during the quarter was $268,000…(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 PressLenders outside of Ohio were mildly interested in the Ohio Governor’s race where Ex-CFPB chief Richard Cordray lost. As forecast Democrats won the House and the Republicans kept control of the Senate, and although there were a few surprises, and some results aren’t known yet. There was a fair amount of volatility overnight and each democratic win seemed good for bonds and not so much so for equities: this morning we find rates temporarily lower (but over time rates are still expected to grind higher) and stocks higher. Markets don’t like uncertainty, and much of that has been removed. Things are still polarized, and the jawboning has begun on 2020. Lender Products and Services Looking for a familiar path to grow your Non-Agency production? Galton Funding, a leading non-agency…(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 CommentaryWhether you thought the election would or would not matter for the bond market, you were right! At times, it mattered quite a bit in the overnight session, but as we begin the day, trading levels are arguably close enough to yesterday’s that no one needs to shout from the rooftops about imminent sea-changes. Refreshingly, the election had exactly the impact we suspected in terms of the correlation between democrats taking the House and lower rates. That’s not because democrats have anything more to do with rates than republicans. Rather, it’s been unchecked government spending (or specifically, revenue shortfall from the tax bill) that has pushed rates higher due to increased Treasury issuance, and indirectly via a hotter running economy due to the stimulative effects of the fiscal…(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 NewsWireDespite the success of the U.S. economy as of late, housing sentiment seems to have hit a rough patch . Fannie Mae said its Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI) continued to decline in October, moving lower for the third time in four months. The index, based on responses to a portion of questions in the National Housing Survey, fell by 2.0 points to 85.7 with five of the six components posting declines and the fifth unchanged from September. The net share of Americans who say it is a good time to buy a house fell 5 percentage points to only 21 percent. The net is the result of subtracting negative responses from positive ones. Those saying it is a good time to sell was down by 3 points to 35 percent. That measure has dropped by 9 points since June. The net share of those who expect prices to…(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 slightly lower today. Unfortunately, that may not be the case by tomorrow morning. Underlying bond markets (which dictate rates) lost ground throughout the day. If trading levels don’t change by tomorrow morning, the average lender will be back up at the highest rates in 7+ years. Many are close enough as it is. The key feature of the past 24 hours was the midterm elections. Bonds improved when democrats won control of the house. This was in line with the average prediction for how elections might impact rates. That said, the fact that bonds have already fully erased that overnight move should let you know just how little the elections mattered in the bigger picture. The longer-term headwinds for interest rates remain entrenched, and it will take a long time or a massive…(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 CommentaryThose who expected the election to matter to bond markets got their way overnight. Those who expected elections to be inconsequential got their way by the end of the day. During the overnight session, there was clear correlation between the odds of Democratic control of the House and strength in bond markets. When the results were more or less official, rates fell to their best levels of the week. Notably, however, they avoided breaking below the 3.18% technical level. Bond market strength remained in play during the morning hours. Indeed, it may have remained in play all day had it not been for a terrible reception for today’s 30yr Treasury auction as well as a hefty slate of corporate debt issuance . By the end of the day, Treasuries had edged just barely back into negative territory…(read more)Forward this article via email:  Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.