Wage Growth Shocker Pushes Mortgage Rates to 2-Month Lows

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Get out your calendar. Flip, swipe, or glance back at May 29th. That's where we have to go to see mortgage rates any lower than they are today. After a delightful, but incredibly boring streak of mostly good days, rates finally swung for the fences. Actually, that might be a bit of a stretch depending on your perspective, but consider the following. Mortgage rates tend to be broken up in .125% increments. For the past several weeks (or more, depending on the lender), rates haven't moved enough for the actual interest rate to change. Instead, the upfront costs act like fine-tuning adjustments for any given rate. In other words, you might be quoted 4.125% on two different days, but with $1000 origination one day and only $500 the next. The rate is the same, but paying less for it means the effective...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/493649.aspx

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MBS Day Ahead: Closer Look at Changes in Yield Curve

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Posted To: MBS Commentary

Yesterday's recap mentioned a 'farewell' to low short term rates despite longer term rates 'faring well.' This is a reference to the major changes that have been taking place with the yield curve in July. But just what the heck is the yield curve? If you're familiar with the yield curve, thinking about it is fairly second nature, but it takes some time spent thinking about it before that happens. If it's second nature for you, feel free to skip to the chart. If it's not second nature, don't worry, it's not that bad . I find the easiest way to think of the yield curve is to forget the curve part. Forget thinking about it as a line on a chart. After all, if you do that, you'll be left with this same, boring, fairly meaningless chart that always pops...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mortgage_rates/blog/493274.aspx

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MBS MID-DAY: Under Modest Pressure Ahead of Fed

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Posted To: MBS Commentary

Bond markets have continued taking measured steps back from the strongest levels in nearly 3 weeks seen on Monday. So far, today's selling pressure has been roughly in line with yesterday's. This time, it's more about traders adjusting positions ahead of the Fed. While that was also a factor yesterday, it was trumped by a much bigger slate of corporate debt issuance (companies rushed to issue their debt early in the week before Fed-induced volatility). Economic data was a non-event this morning. Pending Home Sales were weaker than expected and bond markets did nothing with that info. In fact, there's only been another modest move higher in yields since 10am and it wasn't at all correlated with the Pending Sales data. If anything, the most recent selling in bond began as...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mortgage_rates/blog/492591.aspx

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Mortgage Rates Continue Pushing July Lows

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Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates continued modestly lower for the 5th straight day, further extending Friday's push to the lowest levels of July. Even so, most borrowers will see the same rates on lenders quotes, with the improvements in the form of lower closing costs compared to Friday. The most prevalently quoted conventional 30yr fixed rates remain in a range between 4.0 and 4.125% for top tier scenarios. Recent gains help more and more lenders move to the lower end of that range, while a very small minority are at 3.875%. Last week's caution still applies: any time we see this many positive days in a row, rates are increasingly likely to pull back. This will only become more true if rates continue to improve, but there is no implicit commentary about how long such a pull-back would last or how far it would...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/492027.aspx

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MBS Day Ahead: What if 2015 Doesn't Turn Out to be The Big Bounce?

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Posted To: MBS Commentary

What if it's all not enough--the multiple iterations of QE at home, ongoing QE abroad, ultra low rates for longer than they've ever been ultra low, and a generally consumer-friendly inflation environment, among other things? What if this is not enough to get the engine of global growth firing on all cylinders? What if early 2015 has just been a pause for reflection and the decades-long bull market in bonds actually gets back on track in the second half of the year? This is a question that has increasingly been on investors' minds as they ponder the Fed's rate-hike rhetoric. Is 2015 really the best time? Up until a certain point last year, 2015 did indeed look like the best time. In fact, on the morning of October 7th, 2014, traders estimated that the Fed Funds Rate would be...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mortgage_rates/blog/491341.aspx

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No Joy in New Home News

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Posted To: MND NewsWire

The report this morning on June new home sales blunted much of the optimism generated by yesterday's news about existing home sales. The Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development jointly reported that new home sales fell by 6.8 percent month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 482,000 units. Further, May sales, originally reported as rising 2.2 percent from the previous month to a rate of 546,000 units were revised down to 517,000 , lower than April's number which was also lowered by 11,000 from an earlier revised number. While June sales were 18.1 percent above those a year earlier they represented the slowest pace for new home sales since last November. The report was certainly not what was expected. Econoday's survey of housing analysts had gathered...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/07242015_new_home_sales.asp

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Vendor & MI updates; FDIC's Banamex Civil Penalty; Moody's Admits Error

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Posted To: Pipeline Press

Underwriting is teamwork, and teamwork is the fuel that allows common people to achieve uncommon results, provided they don't mind you calling them "common people". MBA's July 10 th chart of the week highlights retail mortgage applications per underwriter with a ten-year trend in average monthly underwriter productivity for the retail production channel. For large lenders, generally in the top 25 nationwide, u/w productivity is 5 times lower than it was ten years ago , dropping to 33 applications per underwriter in 2014 from 165 applications per underwriter in 2005. Productivity for mid-sized lenders, originating an average $1.2 billion in 2014, has dropped to 37 applications per underwriter in 2014 from 135 in 2005. Let's take a look at what vendors, MI companies, and others have been up to...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/channels/pipelinepress/07242015-subprime-ratings.aspx

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MBS RECAP: Bond Drift Sideways Into Weekend

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Posted To: MBS Commentary

As you may have noticed, there are three MBS Commentary articles every day, regardless of how much ground we need to cover in terms of news, events, and market movement. Today would be one of those days where that ground is not only almost non-existent, but has already been covered in the mid-day. Moreover, it's also in line with the general theme laid out at the beginning of the week, when we discussed summertime trading apathy . To reiterate a point from this week's opener, if your job deals with interest rates and you had to pick a few days to tack on to the weekend in order to facilitate summertime vacationing, this week would be hard to beat . There was very little on the economic calendar to begin with, and what was on the calender didn't matter much. Add to that the fact...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mortgage_rates/blog/491565.aspx

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Mortgage Rates Trickle Down to July Lows

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Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates barely budged for an impressive 7th straight day. Refreshingly, all but one of those days have seen rates budge slightly lower. In fact, today's budging was just enough to get the average rate to the lowest levels seen in July . (To emphasize just how small the movements have been, some lenders moved to slightly higher rates today.) The most prevalently quoted conventional 30yr fixed rates remain in a range between 4.0 and 4.125% for top tier scenarios, though some of the most aggressive lenders are now venturing into the "high 3's." Part of the reason for this week's extreme level of drowsiness in rates is that it was an "in between" week in terms of events that matter to the bond markets (which drive rates). Stocks were center-stage amid this quarter's biggest batch of earnings...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/491564.aspx

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MBS MID-DAY: Holding Ground Uneventfully Despite Weakness in Stocks

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Posted To: MBS Commentary

I'll be the first to tell you that bond yields don't always follow stocks . Indeed, explicating their complicated relationship was the whole point of yesterday morning's commentary . With yesterday being a big day for earnings and a more liquid day for markets, bonds were more keen to follow stocks lower. But that relationship has changed today, as 10yr yields haven't been keen on breaking much below 2.26, even as S&P futures are off 20 points from morning highs. New Home Sales data was out much weaker than expected, and it had little effect on either side of the market. Arguably of more interest to the equities complex was a WSJ story that presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton would propose 'nearly doubling capital gains tax rates on short-term investments.'...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mortgage_rates/blog/491492.aspx

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Good News but Old Story, Foreclosures Down Again

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Posted To: MND NewsWire

While it is certainly good news we wish we could find a new and more interesting way to say it. Nonetheless, foreclosure activity has declined again , this time as reflected in June "first look" data from Black Knight Financial Services. The U.S. delinquency rate in June was 4.82 percent, a 2.90 percent drop from May and 15.3 percent from a year earlier. The number of properties that were 30 or more days past due, but not in foreclosure at the end of June was 2,444,000, 69,000 fewer than in May and down 439,000 from June 2014. Seriously delinquent mortgages - those 90 or more days past due but not in foreclosure, declined by 27,000 from the previous month to 895,000. In June 2014 the number was approximately 1.16 million. Mortgages in the process of foreclosure, the pre-sale inventory, numbered...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/07232015_black_knight_first_look.asp

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Mortgage Rates Grind Out Another Small Victory

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Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates are looking like they've exhausted the playbook in terms of making big moves down the field, yet they continue to pick up a few yards every play. Today was one of the less effective recent examples. More than a few lenders are priced right where they were at the end of the day yesterday, despite underlying markets suggesting a bit more improvement. That said, the AVERAGE lender is in slightly better shape today. We're now seeing a more even split between 4.0 and 4.125 in terms of the most prevalent conventional 30yr fixed quotes for top scenarios. It continues to be the case that recent resilience has balanced the bigger picture outlook. Whereas our back were clearly against the wall at the beginning of last week, we can now catch our breath and consider that things could actually...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/491295.aspx

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Substantial Increase in Mortgage Origination Forecasts -MBA

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Posted To: MND NewsWire

Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) economists joined in the recent surge of housing optimism Wednesday, increasing their projections for mortgage originations both this year and next. Saying that the housing market recovery has shifted to a higher gear, they now project that purchase mortgage originations will reach $801 billion in 2015 and $885 billion in 2016. The new numbers are an increase of $71 billion this year and $94 billion next year over their previous projections. Mike Fratantoni, MBA's Chief Economist, and senior economists Lynn Fisher and Joel Kan said they had also revised upward their estimates and forecasts for home sales and home prices while revising down estimates of cash transactions. All of these point to higher purchase originations. More sales are being financed, and...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/07222015_mortgage_originations.asp

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Mortgage Rates Continue Holding Ground, but For How Long?

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Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates haven't made any sudden moves recently. Not only that, but most of the moves have been in a friendly direction this month. There have only been 2-3 days of volatility surrounding the Greek bailout negotiations (European bond market volatility spilled over into domestic bond markets, which affect mortgage rates). Other than that, it's been a slow, steady move back to July's lows--so steady, in fact, that we might start to wonder: "what's the catch?" There's no reason to ask this question other than the tendency for financial markets to NOT continue to trade in same direction, by the same amount, for too many successive days. With the exception of Monday, we've seen 7 consecutive business days where rates have moved slightly lower, and that's a lot. Bottom line, if you've been...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/491005.aspx

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MBS MID-DAY: Not Much Change in Prices, but That's More Meaningful Today

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Posted To: MBS Commentary

Looking at charts, we might well conclude that bond market trading remains uneventful. This wouldn't be a surprise , after all, considering the heretofore theme of 'summer doldrums' over the past week. But developments behind the scenes make the flatness more meaningful. The most noticeable development isn't actually behind the scenes. In fact, it's rather hard to miss today. Headlines abound regarding the "strongest Existing Home Sales in 8 years" and "record high home prices." Not only that, but the data came in stronger than expected--a fact that typically is net-negative for bond prices. Despite that, bonds prices held their ground and improved after the data. There was also pressure from 'behind-the-scenes' factors surrounding another uptick...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mortgage_rates/blog/490907.aspx

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Mortgage Rates Back to 2 Week lows

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Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates reversed course today, getting back in line with the recent trend of slow, steady improvements. The average lender is now back in line with their best offerings in more than 2 weeks. This puts the most prevalent conventional 30yr fixed quote squarely in a range between 4.0 and 4.125% for top tier scenarios. With the day-to-day movements being as small as they are, the average borrower is more likely to see changes in the form of slightly lower closing costs (or higher lender credit). Naturally, today's modest improvement is in line with our broader strategy shift toward a "wait and see" approach. Until recently, locking early and often was the only way to go. To be clear, that's still a perfectly viable strategy. In many cases, it's the only strategy, regardless of what markets...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/490610.aspx

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MBS MID-DAY: Sun Also Rises for Narrow Summertime Range

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Posted To: MBS Commentary

We've been talking about the lack of passion, news, and trading activity over the past few days, but as of this morning, we'd only really seen rates moving higher inside a narrow range. Now, the shoe is on the other foot. Rates moved quickly lower and MBS have rallied nicely since just after 9am. The only problem? Everything continues to occur in the micro-range (denoted by 2.34-2.40 in 10yr yields). While that's not necessarily a problem in the conventional sense of the word, it doesn't allow us to draw any conclusions about momentum. In other words, today might look pretty decent on a 2-day chart, but over the longer term, the last 2 days look like this: In terms of specifics, market motivations are hard to pin down. First off, I'm not sure it really matters when we're...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mortgage_rates/blog/490534.aspx

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Mortgage Rates Staying Calm to Begin Week

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Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates did move microscopically higher today, but that's about the worst thing to be said about them. In fact, it's one of the only things to be said about rates anywhere! The bond markets that underlie mortgage rate movement were exceptionally quiet today. This is a trend that's been waxing for two distinct reasons. The first is normal: it's summer! While it's easy to think of financial markets as ruthless electronic hubs of ceaseless activity, they actually depend on the presence of people. And those people (or people they rely on) tend to be out of the office in greater numbers this time of year. The other reason is the subsiding focus on the high drama in Europe. The drama surrounding the Greek bailout negotiations had been a focal point for financial markets recently. granted,...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/490395.aspx

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Innovation in Primary & Secondary Markets; Every FHA Lender Following HUD v. Nova

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Posted To: Pipeline Press

Earnest Hemingway was born in the comfortable Midwestern suburb of Oak Park, Illinois, a place he described as full of, "wide lawns and narrow minds." But at least it is affordable - unlike out west where the San Francisco Bay Area, relative to other parts of the nation, is literally ballooning in property values . Try explaining that to an underwriter in Nashville or Des Moines reviewing an appraisal from San Francisco. Hey, I know I mentioned this yesterday, but I continue to hear from smart folks around the nation that this HUD action impacts nearly every FHA lender out there . On July 9 th HUD Office of Inspector General issued an Audit of Nova Home Loans in Arizona. This audit appears to make down payment assistance from IDA Bond loans and many HFA loans like California's CalHFA, Nebraska...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/channels/pipelinepress/07162015-hud-versus-nova.aspx

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Chase Settles Lawsuit, Wells Has One Dismissed; Progress on e-Sign? Backup LOS Worth It?

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Posted To: Pipeline Press

I am visiting Denver for much of this week, and heard this quote: "Our company culture? It consists of talking about our company culture." Kidding aside, culture sure is important, and we'll be hearing plenty of successful and unsuccessful mergers and acquisitions - and culture plays a role. Speaking of acquisitions, clients & partners of Southern California's First Mortgage received this autoreply Saturday: As of July 18, 2015, I'm pleased to announce I am now doing business as Freedom Mortgage . We are the same great team, and are excited to continue to bring you the service you have come to expect from a top notch mortgage lender..." The issues that led First Mortgage, long esteemed in the mortgage banking business for its FHA lending and attending to underserved borrowers, to that point...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/channels/pipelinepress/07202015-e-sign.aspx

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Cash Sales Remain 25 percent above "Normal"

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Posted To: MND NewsWire

The importance of cash in home sale transactions declined in April for the 28 th consecutive month . CoreLogic said on Thursday that all-cash home purchases comprised 33.7 percent of all sales during the period, down from 37.4 percent a year earlier. Month-over-month the share fell by 0.9 percent. Cash purchases typically account for about one quarter of home sales but, as overall sales declined and investors became a major force, cash accounted for 46.5 percent of home sales at the peak in January 2011. CoreLogic said if the cash sales share continues to fall at the rate it did in the current report period the share should return back to the 25 percent pre-crash levels by mid-2017. Cash sales continue to dominate in the distressed market; the share of all cash REO sales increased year-over...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/07162015_corelogic_cash_sales.asp

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Foreclosures Plummeting Overall, but Some States Spiking

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Posted To: MND NewsWire

The first half of 2015 saw foreclosure activity continue to decline. RealtyTrac's Midyear U.S. Foreclosure Market Report shows that 597,589 properties received some type of foreclosure filing during the six months ended in June. This included default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions or completed foreclosures. The overall filing numbers are down 3 percent from the first half of 2014 and 13 percent lower than in the second half. Foreclosure starts declined four percent from a year earlier to a total of 304,439, the lowest level in 10 years . The figure fell 18 percent below the peak of foreclosure starts in the first half of 2006, a period which pre-dated the housing crisis. "U.S. foreclosure starts have not only returned to pre-housing crisis levels, they have fallen well...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/07162015_realtytrac_foreclosures.asp

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Growing Home Sales Expected to Fuel Remodeling

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Posted To: MND NewsWire

Home remodeling is expected to soon kick back into gear . LIRA, the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity produced by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University is projecting that annual spending growth for home improvements will accelerate to 4.0% by the first quarter of 2016. LIRA is designed to estimate national homeowner spending on improvements for the current quarter and subsequent three quarters. The indicator, measured as an annual rate-of-change of its components, provides a short-term outlook of homeowner remodeling activity and is intended to help identify future turning points in the business cycle of the home improvement industry. Expenditures on remodeling reached a recent peak of $146.0 billion in the third quarter of 2014 but declined over the following two...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/07172015_lira_remodeling_index.asp

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Mortgage Rates Slowly Approach July Lows

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates continued the recent trend of very small improvements today. Most lenders are essentially unchanged, and while a few rate sheets were higher than yesterday's, they were the exception. The average improvement was so small that it would have no effect on the contract rate in most cases. That means closing costs would be just slightly lower for the same rates quoted yesterday. While some of the most aggressive lenders are back to quoting conventional 30yr fixed rates of 4.0%, most remain at 4.125% . Relative to the sharper drop in rates earlier this month, today's aren't quite as low, but it would only take another day or two of modest improvement to get there. It's notable that we can now talk about potential future scenarios that include "modest improvement. Until just recently...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/490090.aspx

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Applications Hint at Strong June New Home Sales

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Posted To: MND NewsWire

Applications for mortgages to purchase newly constructed homes rose again in June and the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said this bodes well for a substantial increase in the sales themselves. MBA's Builder Application Survey (BAS), conducted among mortgage subsidiaries of home builders, increased by 1 percent from May, a number that is not seasonally adjusted. From that data, as well as assumptions regarding market coverage and other factors, MBA estimates that new single-family home sales were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 496,000 units during the month. This is an increase of 8.1 percent from the MBA May estimate of 459,000 units. On an unadjusted basis, the MBA estimates that there were 45,000 new home sales in June 2015, unchanged from May. "As house prices continue to recover...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/07162015_mba_new_home_sales.asp

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Mortgage Rates Steady to Slightly Lower

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates are doing a great job of holding their ground after two days of solid improvement. If we look closely enough, today's rate sheets also improved, but by such a small amount that it's just as fair to say rates where 'steady.' As such most lenders continue to quote conventional 30yr fixed rates of 4.125% on top tier scenarios. Some of the more aggressive lenders made it back down to 4.0% over the past 2 days. In the bigger picture, rates bespeak a certain level of indecision in the global marketplace. Between events in Europe, domestic economic data, and comments from Fed officials, there's more of a balance between positive and negative influences on rates. In fact, even at our worst , we haven't gone any higher than early June levels. Conversely, we still haven't broken meaningfully...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/489786.aspx

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Freddie Mac Updates Alter DTI Calculations, Multi Property Requirements

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Posted To: MND NewsWire

A number of selling updates to Freddie Mac's Single-Family Seller/Servicer Guide are slated to go into effect over the next several months. The largest number of updates concern credit and underwriting The first of these changes effect the calculation of debt payment-to-income ratios (DTI) where a borrower is obligated by student loans. Effective for mortgages with settlement dates on or after August 1 the minimum payment that must be used in lieu of a verified monthly payment, i.e. when a loan is in forbearance or deferred, will drop to 1 percent from 2 percent of the outstanding loan balance. This could change the required imputed minimum payment on a 2014 graduate's average student loan balance of $33,000 from $660 a month to $330. The new Seller letter will also allow the substitution of...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/07152015_freddie_mac_underwriting.asp

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Mortgage Rates Moderately Lower After Yellen Testimony

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates once again focused more on domestic issues today as Greece had not yet voted to approve its bailout by the time US markets closed. While the results of that vote could cause volatility tomorrow, the absence of those results had little impact today. Instead, the financial markets that underlie mortgage rates were more interested in Fed Chair Yellen's semi annual congressional testimony. As a part of the testimony, Yellen's prepared remarks were released first thing in the morning, before lenders come out with their first rate sheets of the day. The interpretation was slightly negative for bond markets, implying slightly higher rates. Indeed, most lenders subsequently began the day at slightly higher rates vs yesterday. But as the day wore on, and as Yellen's actual conversation...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/489236.aspx

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Refi Apps Technically Higher, But Bouncing Along The Gutter Overall

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Posted To: MND NewsWire

The take-away from the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA's) current press release on mortgage volume was its summary of performance over the last two weeks. MBA reported a net drop in its seasonally adjusted Purchase Index of 1.4 percent from the week ended June 26 while its Refinance Index increased 6.5 percent . That aside is necessary because the week ended July 10 followed a week shortened by a holiday. The holiday and consumer reaction to it often make data for both that week and the week following it an exercise in confusion with both big variations between seasonally adjusted and unadjusted data within the short week and atypical swings in component indices from one week to the next. For example, during the Independence Day week of July 3 there was a more than 10 percentage point gulf...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/07152015_application_volume.asp

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Mortgage Rates Improve After Weak Economic Data

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Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates took a break from reacting to headlines coming out of Europe and focused instead on domestic economic data. That turned out to be helpful today as Retail Sales came in much weaker than expected. Downbeat economic data generally helps rates move lower. Today was no exception, but the gains were modest. Most lenders are still quoting conventional 30yr fixed rates of 4.125% on top tier scenarios, though there are a few on either side of that. Today's Greek headline hiatus isn't the start of a new trend, but rather a calm before the storm. Over the next two days, we'll find out whether or not Greece and other Eurozone parliaments have approved of the bailout terms negotiated this past weekend. From there, quick action would be needed in order to make sure Greece remains solvent between...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/488598.aspx

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MBS RECAP: Modest Gains After Weaker Data; Waiting on Greece, Yellen

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Posted To: MBS Commentary

There's nothing new to report from the MBS Mid-Day as bond markets continued to trade well within the morning's range through the close. The best levels were set right after the weaker-than-expected Retail Sales data. 'Domestic data moving markets?!' you ask? Yes. It happened. Crazy , I know. It's not that Retail Sales shouldn't have moved markets. It's just that nothing else really made a dent today. In a broader sense, both German and US 10yr yields are still consolidating their big sell-off from Friday, when optimism picked up regarding Greece. We're still right in line with the new-found weakness seen on Friday, for what it's worth. In fact, at 2.40, we're not even close to Friday's better levels (2.34-ish) and even farther from Thursday's...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mortgage_rates/blog/488648.aspx

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First-time Buyers are Younger, Less Sophisticated, Poorer - but Not Riskier

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Posted To: MND NewsWire

A working paper just released by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) attempts to determine the reasons why mortgages given to first-time homebuyers perform more poorly than those given to repeat buyers. The Marginal Effect of First-Time Homebuyer Status on Mortgage Default and Prepayment was written by Saty Patrabansh of FHFA's Office of Policy Analysis and Research. Given that homeownership is generally considered a societal benefit and that many government policies focus on incentivizing first-time buyers the author says it is important to understand whether first-time buyers as a group are likely to default at higher rates than repeat buyers both in order to anticipate that an increase in the rate of first-time homeownership could lead to increased foreclosures and negatively affect...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/07102015_first_time_buyers_risk.asp

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Mortgage Rates Fairly Flat; Still Waiting on Europe

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Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates didn't move much today , but are slightly higher for most lenders by the afternoon. Rates were noticeably higher in the morning, but most lenders sent out rate sheet improvements after bond markets rallied into mid-day. A "rally" in bond markets means the prices for things like Treasuries and Mortgage-backed securities (the MBS that dicatate mortgage rates) are moving higher. Rising bond prices mean lower rates on rate sheets. Being unchanged on a day like today is a surprise . The weekend held a big meeting between Greece and its Eurozone creditors. It was billed as the weekend that would decide if Greece remained in the Eurozone. In general, the closer Greece moves to that door, the better it is for rates, and vice versa if deals are being struck. In other words, if Greece...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/487407.aspx

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Distressed Sales to Remain Elevated until 2017

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Posted To: MND NewsWire

While the share of home sales accounted for by distressed properties continues to drift lower, only two states are approaching what could be considered normal levels. CoreLogic said on Thursday that sales of lender-owned real estate (REO) and short sales made up 11.1 percent of residential real estate transactions in April, down 3 percentage points from April 2014 and 1.5 points from March 2015. The company noted that April is typically a month in which the distressed sales share decreases from the previous month, but this was the lowest share for any April since 2007. REO sales made up 7.4 percent of sales and short sales 3.7 percent. Short sales have had a relatively stable market share since dropping below 4 percent in mid-2014. There are always some distressed sales but they have typically...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/07092015_corelogic_distressed_sales.asp

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Google's Mortgage Investment; Bank M&A; Hedging Servicing?

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Posted To: Pipeline Press

The FDIC has updated the Compliance Examination Manual to include examination procedures for TRID in order to allow financial institutions a better understanding of what areas of TRID the FDIC will focus on as part of the examination process. Updates include replacing the GFE, HUD-1 Settlement Statement and TIL disclosures with the Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure, an alternative definition has been provided for the term "small servicer" and requiring a limited time period in which to review a transaction and "cure" excess points and fees. The number of banks in this country continues to decline through M&A for various reasons - but basically it is darned expensive to run a bank or mortgage bank these days. And plenty of owners are aging and tired of the fight. National Bank of Commerce...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/channels/pipelinepress/07102015-hedging-servicing.aspx

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Mortgage Rates End Week at Recent Highs

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Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates move sharply higher for a 2nd straight day, now fully erasing all of the improvement seen since July 1st. The same risky, volatile overseas events that helped rates fall earlier this week are now pushing in the opposite direction. Specifically, fears over a more pronounced Chinese stock market crash have subsided after 2 days of gains. Even more of a focus for financial markets is the fact that Greece maintained a surprising amount of traction this week in their efforts toward securing more bailout funding. Both of these situations had previously caused investors to seek safety in the bond markets of big, stable countries like the US. Extra demand in bond markets results in lower rates, as seen earlier this week. But even as rates were falling, we discussed the fact that these...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/486872.aspx

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Mortgage Rates Bounce Higher, Snapping 4-Day Streak

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Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates rose fairly quickly today, ending the best 4-day winning streak since early March. On a positive note, this only takes us back in line with Monday's rate offerings, which were the lowest in 3 weeks at the time. In other words, the past 2 days have been erased. For most lenders that means moving back to conventional 30yr fixed rates of 4.125% for top tier scenarios, but several remain at 4.0%. It continues to be the case that rate quotes are more diverse across the lender landscape due to the varying strategies used to address recent market volatility. That brings us to the next consideration. Volatility is indeed a fixture in 2015 and today's move higher in rates serves as a reminder of how quickly things can (and will) change. In fact, yesterday was the first day where we could...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/486408.aspx

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MBS RECAP: Good Day for Greece and China; Bad Day for US Rates

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Posted To: MBS Commentary

The easiest promise to make for 2015 has been that of volatility . It's not the worst we've ever seen, but it continues at a healthy pace in terms of the size of day to day changes. Where yesterday saw rates down big, today brought them up, bigger. Motivation continued to come from overseas with China and Greece being the key players at the moment. The overnight session began poorly for Treasuries as Chinese stocks put in their first big bounce back since the faster-paced selling began. No surprise there. As we've discussed, the surprise would have been if the selling continued. Greece may have been slightly more surprising today, depending on your point of view. The surprise is that the timeline of events laid out after last weekend's referendum is proceeding according to schedule...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mortgage_rates/blog/486401.aspx

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Mortgage Rates Lowest in a Month After Fed

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Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates moved lower at a healthy pace today, ultimately hitting the best levels in just over a month. It was the 4th straight day of improvements and since June 29th, 6 out of 7 days have seen rates fall. With today's gains, most lenders are back to quoting conventional 30yr fixed rates of 4.0% on top tier scenarios. Some had already made that move over the past few days, but 4.125% remained relatively more prevalent until today. There are some notable exceptions here, with a very large lender or two still not quite down to 4.0%. One final consideration is that recent volatility makes it hard for some lenders to adjust rate sheets as quickly as markets are moving. As such, there is more diversity in rate offerings between lenders. The disparity will continue as long as market volatility...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/485943.aspx

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Fannie and Freddie Continue Moving Toward Common Security

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Posted To: MND NewsWire

Another milestone was reached on Wednesday as the government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) and their conservator the Federal Housing Finance Agency move toward creation of a Common Securitization Platform (CSP) . Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced the creation and composition of an Industry Advisory Group. This entity is intended to provide feedback to Common Securitization Solutions, LLC (CSS), the corporation jointly formed by the GSEs to develop and manage the platform and development of a single mortgage-backed security for loans guaranteed by both GSEs. The CSP and new single security are among FHFA's principal strategic goals for the GSE conservatorship. The CSP will perform many of the core back office operations for the single security, as well as most of the GSEs' current securitization...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/07082015_gse_reform.asp

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Home Price Gains Slowed in May

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Posted To: MND NewsWire

Home prices increases decelerated slightly on an annual basis in May compared to April according to a report from CoreLogic on Tuesday. The company's Home Price Index (HPI) showed that home prices nationwide increased by 6.3 percent in May. The index, which includes sales of distressed properties, was rose 6.9 percent on an annual basis in April. It was the first month that annual appreciation has slowed since February but May still represented the 39 th consecutive month for year-over-year gains. The HPI including distressed sales rose 1.7 percent from April 2015 to May 2015 enabling ten states. (Alaska, Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Vermont) and the District of Columbia to establish new price peaks in CoreLogic's records going back to...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/07072015_corelogic_hpi.asp

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Mortgage Rates Manage Modest Gains Amid Market Volatility

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Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates put in a more mixed performance today, owing to volatility in underlying markets. The day began well, following overnight improvements in global bond markets. To oversimplify, investors were guarding against risk by selling stocks and buying bonds. Excess demand for bonds leads to higher prices and lower yields. Mortgage-backed-securities (MBS) are a major part of the bond market in the US, and when Treasury yields are moving lower, mortgage rates tend to follow. That said, mortgage rates don't always follow in lock-step, especially when Treasuries are moving in response to global economic risks like those at center stage in Europe. Overnight gains were enough to push rates to their lowest levels of the month this morning. At that point, a majority of lenders had moved down to...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/485433.aspx

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Mortgage Rates Lowest in 2 Weeks

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Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates moved lower with more conviction to begin the week as global markets reacted to weekend events in Europe. Specifically, Greece voted to reject a set of reforms drafted by its Eurozone creditors. If you're wondering what in the world that has to do with mortgage rates, you're not alone. The easiest way to think about it would be to consider that more disagreement between Greece and the rest of Europe creates more uncertainty for investors. In turn, that uncertainty promotes the buying of safe-haven assets like bonds--especially when those bonds are not at ground zero. As such, US Treasuries and mortgage-backed-securities were met with a glut of demand this morning. Higher demand means higher bond prices and lower rates. Today's improvements bring rates back in line with levels...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/485144.aspx

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MBS MID-DAY: Bonds Remain in June's Range After Nice Boost From Greece

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Posted To: MBS Commentary

Treasuries have safe haven appeal on a global scale. This is frequently seen when Asian markets are open for the first few hours of each trading day before European markets open. During that time, Treasuries are one of the most logical assets in the search to avoid risk-- especially when the risk is focused on Europe. As such, it's not uncommon for overnight (and especially "over-the-weekend") events to have their biggest impact on domestic rates before 3am. This was the case today as 10yr yields opened at 2.274 and traded mostly under 2.30 before Europe cam on line for the day. From that point on, rates drifted gently higher, despite remaining in positive territory day-over-day. By the start of the domestic session, 10yr yields were just over 2.30 and MBS opened just over a quarter...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mortgage_rates/blog/485051.aspx

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The Scoop on Tax Transcripts & 4506-T's - Required Prior to Closing by the Agencies?

Hot news from AZ Home Help:

Posted To: Pipeline Press

It seems that lenders have had a more difficult time obtaining tax information from the IRS this year. I collected the tax-related updates over the last 2-3 months so you can see how lenders reacted - as always check with the actual lender or investor for specifics! And don't ask me to write to your CEO about removing overlays that certain lenders have that are different than the agencies! Remember that the IRS has blamed slow tax transcript turn times on budget cuts . The IRS sent this notice out a while back - it seems their computers are running slower since they are getting paid less? "As you may be aware, the IRS is operating at the lowest level of funding since 2008, and the lowest since 1998 when inflation is considered. All areas of the IRS are affected by the difficult choices these...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/channels/pipelinepress/07022015-tax-transcripts-for-loans.aspx

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CoreLogic Ties Fraud Risk to Interest Rates, Purchases

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Posted To: MND NewsWire

A new analysis by CoreLogic shows an increased risk of mortgage application fraud associated with purchase loans while loans made for refinancing are showing decreased risk. Thus, as rates rise and refinancing diminishes, fraud can be expected to rise as well. The company, which has tracked fraud since 2010, said that application fraud has increased in Florida, New Jersey and New York by more than 20 percent since 2012 and to a lesser extent in Nevada, Illinois and California. According to its Mortgage Application Fraud Index, Fraud has decreased in most of the rest of the country, notably in Arizona and Georgia (down 36 percent and 26 percent respectively. Nationwide, however, fraud is increasing and is becoming more prevalent in larger metropolitan areas, especially in the Northeast and Southeast...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/06292015_mortgage_fraud.asp

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Homeowner Shift to Condos won't affect Prices -S&P

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Posted To: MND NewsWire

In the S&P/Case-Shiller home price indices report for April David M. Blitzer, Managing Director and Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices notes that, "Sales of new and existing homes are rising in recent reports and construction of new homes enjoyed strong gains in May. At the same time, the proportion of new construction that is apartments rather than single family homes remains high." Over the last year, he says, 34 percent of housing starts were apartments compared to an average of 22 percent over the years since 1975. He points out that one aspect of this could be an increase in condominium construction and that in all five of the cities in which Case-Shiller tracks condos, their prices are rising faster than single family homes. In the June edition of RealtyTrac...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/06302015_condo_home_price_patterns.asp

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Mortgage Rates Edge Slightly Lower After Jobs Data

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Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates made an anti-climactic move lower today after the big jobs report proved slightly disappointing to markets. Stocks and bond yields both fell after the Bureau of Labor Statistics said only 223k jobs were created in June compared to a negatively revised 254k in May. Perhaps even more of an issue was the drop to 0.0 percent wage growth versus forecasts of 0.2 percent. The Fed has recently expressed interest in wage growth as one of the signs that economy is ready for a rate hike. After the data came out, options trading suggested the median Fed rate hike time frame moved into 2016. It had been September 2015 until today. Of course the Fed's eventual rate hike doesn't have a direct bearing on 30yr fixed mortgage rates, but it has all the bearing in the world on the short term money...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/484511.aspx

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Investors, Cash Sales Returning to More Normal Levels

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Posted To: MND NewsWire

The National Association of Realtors® reported last week that first time buyers had increased their share of existing home sales in May by two percentage points and in a market where sales were up 9.2 percent in a year had increase their share of those sales by 5 points. On Thursday we got, as a famous newscaster used to say, "The rest of the story." RealtyTrac reported, in its May 2015 U.S. Home & Foreclosure Sales Report that both cash sales and institutional sales have shrunk again during the month, and in the case of cash sales are nearly back to historical norms. These sales had been cited as providing competition to traditional buyers both because they could close a transaction quickly a nd often bought without mortgage and perhaps even inspection contingencies. Institutional...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/07022015_realtytrac_cash_sales.asp

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Mortgage Rates Rise Ahead of Big Jobs Report

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Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates gave up recently-enjoyed gains today. This brings them to the week's highest levels (and the 3rd highest in 2015) a day before the all-important Employment Situation Report. Also referred to as "the jobs report" or simply "nonfarm payrolls," this is the most important piece of economic data released each month in terms of potential to move interest rates. If job growth is stronger than expected, rates usually rise. The farther away the actual number is from forecasts, the more markets usually move. Tomorrow is no exception despite several other important considerations ahead. One consideration that's hard to miss these days is Greece. The country goes to a referendum this weekend in order to vote on 'something.' No one is abundantly clear on what that 'something' is, but the...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/483913.aspx

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