The mortgage market disregarded a slight increase in interest rates last week. Refinance applications posted a second weekly gain, and the Purchase Mortgage Index resumed the upward trend it has pursued since early November after a small correction the previous week. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said its Market Composite Index for the week ended […]

Heading into this week, we knew that Thursday’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) would be critically important. It did not disappoint. CPI is one of two key inflation reports in the US.  PCE (Personal Consumption Expenditures) is the other big index, but because CPI comes out 2 weeks earlier, it gets almost all of the market’s […]

There were two storms brewing last week and each contributed to driving mortgage applications to generational lows. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said the continuing rise in interest rates and the devastating hurricane that hit Florida and the Carolina’s contributed to a double-digit decline in its indices that measure mortgage application volume. The Market Composite Index for […]

Mortgage rates remain elevated in the context of the past decade and 2022 in general, but they continue making progress after hitting long-term highs early last week. While the general presence of high rates is due to inflation and resilient economic data, the highest highs were primarily a byproduct of a fiscal policy announcement in […]

The market made it through yesterday’s Fed announcement in deceptively sideways fashion as far as bonds were concerned.  7-10yr Treasuries managed modest gains, but 2yr yields got crushed.  In essence, yesterday was no victory.  It was a confirmation of a hawkish Fed that won’t care about the economy until it sees actual damage, and even […]

The National Association of Home Builder’s (NAHB’s) index measuring the confidence of builders in the new home market has fallen for the ninth straight month. A 3-point month-over-month drop put the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) at 46 in September. NAHB’s chief economist Robert Dietz said, with the exception of the period immediately after […]

It’s a tremendously important and volatile time for the market and especially for interest rates.  The biggest inflation surge in decades pushed rates to their highest levels in 14 years by mid June.  Since then, there are signs that things have leveled off, but no compelling evidence for a reversal. The Federal Reserve (or just […]

Rate Volatility Continues to Roil Application Volume The volume of mortgage applications fell again last week, dragged lower by refinancing which had its largest week-over-week decline since mid-May. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said its Market Composite Index, a measure of that volume, decreased 3.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. […]

Home Price Growth Grinds to Halt. What Does It Mean For Conforming Loan Limit Outlook? Today brings the release of June’s home price indices from both the FHFA (the regulator that oversees Fannie and Freddie, the entities that guarantee a majority of mortgages in the U.S.) and S&P Case Shiller.  These are the two most […]