Mortgage Rates Making Steady Progress Over The Past Week
Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch 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... .. read more..

DACA "Dreamers" Given FHA Loan Eligibility
Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Posted To: MND NewsWire The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced on Tuesday that it has extended eligibility for FHA mortgages to individuals who are classified under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA). These individuals are perhaps better known as "D... .. read more..

Rising Material Prices and Lot Shortages Hurt January Builder Confidence
Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Posted To: MND NewsWire After setting three successive record highs, most recently a 90 level in November , the pandemic and rising construction costs are taking a toll on the Housing Market Index (HMI). The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) said the index, which it sponsors with Wells... .. read more..

MBS Day Ahead: Does Inauguration Day Matter For The Bond Market?
Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Posted To: MBS Commentary Does inauguration day matter for the bond market? Not as such, no. To be sure, the changing of the guard in D.C. is indeed a big deal for the bond market, but only because the senate flipped to democratic control as well. The inauguration is just ceremony marking a trans... .. read more..

Ops, AE Jobs; Sales, Leadership, Tech, Pricing Tools; VA, Ginnie, FHA Changes...
Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Posted To: Pipeline Press In his Saturday Morning Cup of Joe , Jeremy Potter quipped, “The word ‘homeowners’ has the word ‘meow’ in it. Good luck unseeing that from now on.” Plenty of people are out there predicting the path of homeowners and homeownership. And... .. read more..

New Home Purchase Applications Remained Strong to Year's End
Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Posted To: MND NewsWire The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) estimates that applications for the purchase of newly built homes rose only 0.2 percent from November to December, however, those applications were up 42.2 percent compared to December 2019. The information comes from MBA's monthly Bu... .. read more..

Fannie/Freddie Allowed to Keep More Capital (Again)
Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Posted To: MND NewsWire Late last week the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) agreed to amend the Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements (PSPAs) which govern the required distribution of dividends to Treasury from the government sponsored enterpr... .. read more..

Refinancing Volume Pulls Back as Rates Rise
Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Posted To: MND NewsWire The volume of mortgage applications fell back slightly last week. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said its Market Composite Index was down 1.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis during the week ended January 15 compared to the prior reporting period. On an unadj... .. read more..

MBS RECAP: Uneventful Start This Week; Next Move Remains Debatable
Tuesday, January 19, 2021

Posted To: MBS Commentary Uneventful Start This Week; Next Move Remains Debatable Bonds began the day in weaker territory but rallied back to nearly unchanged levels after several comments from inbound Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Of particular note were Yellen's comments on the possibili... .. read more..

Biden Nominates Two Picks for Important Financial Positions
Tuesday, January 19, 2021

Posted To: MND NewsWire President-elect Joe Biden has announced his picks for two important financial regulatory positions. The chairmanship of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will be filled by Rohit Chopra while Gary Gensler is expected to be named to head the U.S. Securities and... .. read more..

IT, AE Jobs; Jumbo, Origination, Productivity Tools; Thoughts on the CFPB Nom...
Tuesday, January 19, 2021

Posted To: Pipeline Press Sometimes running a mortgage compliance department can seem like this short clip Indiana’s Carol K. sent along. Yet there is value in compliance, and it is good that lenders and servicers are much more cognizant of rules and regulations than we were 12-14 years ago... .. read more..

MBS Week Ahead: After Last Week's Defensive Stand, What's Next For Bonds?
Tuesday, January 19, 2021

Posted To: MBS Commentary Last week's bond trading served the role of establishing a ceiling for yields after their biggest spike in nearly a year (and the case could be made that the rate spike in March was an artificial and temporary byproduct of covid-related market dislocations--never des... .. read more..

MBS RECAP: Big Victory This Week (In Response To Last Week's Big Loss)
Friday, January 15, 2021

Posted To: MBS Commentary Big Victory This Week (In Response To Last Week's Big Loss) Relative to the spectrum of possibilities, ending the week with 10yr Treasury yields under 1.1% is a big victory. Of course that wouldn't have been the case before last week, but everything's relativ... .. read more..

The Real Story Behind The Past 2 Weeks of Mortgage Rate Volatility
Friday, January 15, 2021

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch It was easy to get lulled into complacency by the second half of 2020 when it came to mortgage rates. Even as other indicators said rates should be rising, they continued on a calm journey to multiple record lows. 2021 has been very different so far! Covid and its i... .. read more..