Mortgage Rates Hold Steady At All Time Lows
Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch
Mortgage Rates paused their recent trend of moderate improvement today to hold steady near all-time lows. Despite an abundance of domestic economic data out this morning, r ates continue to be indirectly fueled by political and economic turmoil in the Euro-zone. After failing to form a new government, Greece today announced [...]
MBS RECAP: Despite Tons of Data, Greece Remains Dominant Market Motivator
Posted To: MBS Commentary
MBS Live : MBS Afternoon Market Summary Today we got to see just how inconsequential our domestic data can be in the face of global financial hyperfocus on the good old Hellenic Republic, aka Greece. Interestingly enough, domestic data DOES matter, as seen in the small, brief reaction to the several pieces [...]
Agencies Absolved of Causing Meltdown; Fifth Third Cuts HARP 2.0; Europe Approves Basel III
Posted To: Pipeline Press
“Apparently, I’m supposed to be more outraged by what Mitt Romney does with his money, than by what Barack Obama does with mine.” So wrote a witty LO, regarding our presidential race which seems to have been going on for over a year already, and we still have almost another six months. [...]
NAR: Housing Affordability Index Breaks into Record Levels
Posted To: MND NewsWire
Housing affordability may be at an all time high according to the quarterly Housing Affordability Index for the first quarter of 2012. The index, issued this morning by the National Association of Realtors® (NAR), hit 205.9, the first time it has broken through 200 since recordkeeping began in 1970. The companion index [...]
MBS MID-DAY: Busy Morning For Data, But Greece Rules
Posted To: MBS Commentary
MBS Live : MBS Morning Market Summary Fewer mornings this year have been busier from an economic data standpoint, and that fact will be apparent in the recap of the ‘live updates’ below. But European concerns–particularly those related to Greece–trump any domestic data. This isn’t to say that markets didn’t react to [...]
Builder Sentiment Recovers after April Drop
Posted To: MND NewsWire
After a bad showing in April the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) has rebounded, hitting its highest reading since May 2007. The index, which measures home builder confidence, rose five points from its April level to 29 in May . The HMI derives from a monthly [...]
FHFA Outlines Strategic Plan, Goals for Next Four Years
Posted To: MND NewsWire
The Federal Housing Finance Agency released a draft of its Strategic Plan : Fiscal Years 2013-2017 this morning. The document, which lays out goals for those years and methods for achieving them, is available for public comment until June 13. In the time available for reviewing the document in juxtaposition with the [...]
AG Biden Says $25B Settlement Not the End, Securitization Next
Posted To: MND NewsWire
Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden said recently that the states’ attorneys general need to make it clear that the recent $25 billion settlement with five major banks is the beginning not the end of their enforcement actions . Biden, speaking on MSNBC’s Morning Joe said the savings and loan crisis cost the [...]
The Day Ahead: Packed Econ Calendar Versus Ongoing Greek Drama
Posted To: MBS Commentary
Today’s data includes Retail Sales, The Consumer Price Index, and The Empire State Manufacturing survey… And that’s just the 8:30am time slot! Treasury International Capital (TIC – or the tally of foreign holdings of US debt) hits at 9AM, FOMC voter Duke speaks on the housing recovery at 9:30am, Business Inventories hit [...]
Retail Sales Figures and the Refi Plan
Posted To: Voice of Housing
The Obama Administration’s plan to refinance all “responsible” homeowners is more about transferring money from long term savers (pension funds and the elderly) to spenders (cash strapped homeowners) in order to boost consumption numbers like Retail Sales than it is about anything else. The report on retail sales in April will [...]
Lackluster NAHB Home Builder Outlook, Despite Record Rates
Posted To: Voice of Housing
Don’t expect much — or any positive — movement. Despite record low rates and the lowest historical affordability rates on record, the fundamental issues plaguing new home sales persist . The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo will release its Housing Market Index (HMI) on Tuesday, May 15. The index [...]
Freddie Mac: Refinancing Homeowners Pick Fixed Rates, Shorter Terms
Posted To: MND NewsWire
Homeowners who refinanced through Freddie Mac in the first quarter of 2012 overwhelmingly picked fixed rate loans and 31 percent chose new loans that would amortize in a shorter period than the old loan. The information came Monday from Freddie Mac’s Quarterly Product Transition Report. The number of borrowers choosing a one-year [...]
Deal Cut to Sell ResCap out of Bankruptcy Filed Today
Posted To: MND NewsWire
Ally Financial , formerly known as GMAC , took its residential lending unit into bankruptcy this morning in federal court in Manhattan. At the same time, Nationstar Mortgage Holdings has agreed to buy substantially all of the mortgage servicing and related assets from the unit known as ResCap for about $2.4 billion [...]
Mortgage Rates Match All-Time Lows; "Wall" Begins Cracking
Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch
Mortgage Rates continued a recent trend of moderate improvement fueled indirectly by political turmoil in Europe. The gains bring rates in line with all-time lows with some lenders priced slightly better and some priced slightly worse than than February’s record offerings. The current rate environment is causing the longstanding “wall” at [...]
MBS RECAP: Data-Less Day Spent Range-Trading Europe
Posted To: MBS Commentary
MBS Live : MBS Afternoon Market Summary Put another hash mark on the wall in the “uneventful, sideways trading day at all-time highs for MBS ” column. With nothing on the calendar to offer any guidance, markets were left to their favorite past-time of late: trying to guess whether or not Greece [...]
Industry Groups Send Letter to HUD Speaking Out on MIP Increases
Posted To: MND NewsWire
Twelve groups, principally trade associations, sent a letter on Friday to the Department of Housing and Urban Development ( HUD ) commenting on a Notice of Proposed Changes to Federal Housing Administration ( FHA ) Mortgage Insurance Premiums (MIPS). The changes affect financing for certain multifamily housing and hospital and health care [...]
MBS MID-DAY: Still Stuck To The Ceiling. Still Waiting on Greece
Posted To: MBS Commentary
MBS Live : MBS Morning Market Summary Fundamentally, little has changed over the weekend or this morning as markets continue flying holding patterns, waiting for any information that informs the Greece situation. 10yr yields are as low as they’ve been since late September 2011 and Fannie 3.5 MBS are at all-time highs. [...]
ResCap’s Bankruptcy and California’s Budget Woes; National Refinance Legislation Proposal Breakdown
Posted To: Pipeline Press
What did the Dali Lama say to the hot dog vendor? “Make me one with everything.” Some LO’s out there wish the Lama could fix the pricing on some of the products out there. Agency mortgage-backed security prices are on the moon: at the close on Friday Fannie, Freddie, and Ginnie 3.5% [...]
The Week Ahead: Light Data Calendar Leaves Europe, FOMC Minutes In Focus
Posted To: MBS Commentary
What had been an overwhelmingly narrow and orderly month-long rally in Treasuries got a moderate dose of volatility last week as Greece took center stage, once-again playing a major role in a global flight-to-safety. Although other factors contributed to 10yr yields hitting the high 1.7’s last week, without Greece, we’re easily back [...]
MBS RECAP: Week Ends With Light Volume At Highs
Posted To: MBS Commentary
MBS Live : MBS Afternoon Market Summary Volume was fairly light today for MBS and Treasuries alike. Both were more keen to take the casual observer role as European markets and equities underwent the bigger gyrations. German Bunds hit another record low yield and US Treasuries continued to move in the same [...]
Mortgage Rates As Close As They’ve Been To Previous All-Time Lows
Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch
Mortgage Rates improved moderately today as European turmoil continues to benefit domestic interest rates. Yesterday’s late news of a $2 bln trading loss at JP Morgan also contributed to the overnight gains in broader bond markets, but it has been lingering uncertainty about the European situation that allows rates markets to [...]
Yet Another Refinance Bill from Congress; Input on CFPB’s LO Comp; GSE Transfer Taxes
Posted To: Pipeline Press
Occasionally I remind folks that rates are low . They know that, but to remind them even further, I tell them that if Mr. & Mrs. Smith spend their working lives and save up $1 million for retirement, and then, to be safe, want to invest it in a “risk free” 10-yr [...]
MBS MID-DAY: Holding Ground Admirably Against Stock Market Surge
Posted To: MBS Commentary
MBS Live : MBS Morning Market Summary By now it should be reasonably understood that there is no hard and fast rule that says stock prices will always move with bond yields as has been the general historical tendency. The onset of European turmoil has afforded both sides of the domestic market [...]
President to Outline Plan to Expand Refinancing Opportunities at 3pm Today
Posted To: MND NewsWire
In remarks scheduled for 3 p.m. in Reno, President Obama will call on Congress to expand mortgage refinancing opportunities as a way to boost the economy. According to Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan , the president will press Congress to take up legislation introduced by several senators and which [...]
LPS: Home Prices Rose Unexpectedly in February
Posted To: MND NewsWire
Home prices as reflected in the Lender Processing Services Home Price Index ( LPS HPI ) “increased nationally for the first time since March 2010 and for only the third time in five years,” according to Raj Dosaj, the company’s vice president of applied Analytics. The HPI, which covered home sales through [...]
