Mortgage Rates Recover Modestly After Treasury Auction

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Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch

Mortgage rates moved slightly lower this afternoon after beginning the day in line with yesterday's worst levels of the year. Things looked relatively bleak as domestic market participants were greeted with flat trading levels vs Wednesday's late day weakness and stronger economic data in the morning that, at first, threatened to take rates even higher. But bond markets, including MBS (the mortgage-backed-securities that most directly affect mortgage rates) were able to hold their ground long enough to make it to the 1pm 30yr Treasury Auction, which helped rates move lower into the afternoon. Best-Execution for 30yr Fixed, Conventional loans remains at 3.625%, with ongoing stratification between lenders due to recent volatility. ( What is A Best-Execution Mortgage Rate? ) What does " ongoing...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/296103.aspx

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The Day Ahead: Risking Unbroken Monotony Before 3-Day Weekend

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Posted To: MBS Commentary

Thursday, with it's 30yr Bond Auction and survey week Jobless Claims numbers, stood a decent chance the break the recent monotony for broader bond markets. "Monotony" is a bit of a deceiving term , because it connotes a lack of importance whereas the the stakes are actually quite high. Rather, the gist of the message was that trading ranges in rates benchmarks had been contained in increasingly narrow ranges. Unfortunately for MBS, those ranges touched on some scary territory and made things more dramatic for rate sheets, but Thursday's mini-rally helped facilitate a modest bounce back in that regard. While the 11 tick improvement for Fannie 3.0s was a welcome development in the seemingly neverending string of down days, it was more of a relief rally for a sensitive and scared coupon near the...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mortgage_rates/blog/296165.aspx

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Senators Push for QRM Matching Dodd-Frank Intent

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Posted To: MND NewsWire

Three of the senators who helped frame parts of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in 2010 have again written to financial regulators asking them to respect the intent of the legislation. Kay Hagan (D-NC), Johnny Isakson (R-GA) and Mary Landrieu (D-GA) sent a letter on Thursday to the heads of the six agencies which are formulating the qualified residential mortgage rule (QRM) of Dodd-Frank. QRM will define exemptions for lenders from risk retention requirements for securitized mortgages and will define underwriting guidelines for the most affordable mortgage products. The letter points out that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ( CFPB ) finalized a final rule defining "Qualified Mortgages on January 10 and asking the heads of the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/02152013_dodd_frank_qrm.asp

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Housing Seen as Emerging Bright Spot by Freddie Mac Economists

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Posted To: MND NewsWire

Even with the unexpected decline in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the fourth quarter of 2012, Freddie Mac's chief economist Frank E. Nothaft , and deputy chief Leonard Kiefer, see housing as an emerging bright spot . In the February issue of Freddie Mac's Outlook they point to a number of measures indicating that housing is an improving economic sector including that fixed residential investment made its first positive contribution to GDP growth since 2005, adding 0.4 percent to growth in the fourth quarter and 0.3 percent for the entire year. December housing starts were above expectations, up 37 percent from December 2011 at an annual rate of 954,000. Housing starts have posted year-over-year gains every month since September 2011. Existing home sales rose 9 percent and new home sales...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/02142013_freddie_mac_forecast.asp

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Foreclosure Activity Drops Sharply Thanks to New California Law

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Posted To: MND NewsWire

Foreclosure activity in much of the nation now appears to be accelerating downward, dropping 7 percent in a single month according to RealtyTrac. Foreclosure filings nationwide - default notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions - numbered 150,864 or one in every 869 U.S. housing units in January compared to 162,511 in December. This was a 28.5 percent decrease from January 2012. Foreclosure starts were down 11 percent from December and 28 percent compared to a year earlier and at the lowest level since June 2006. Bank repossessions or REO dropped 5 percent from the previous month and were down 24 percent from January 2012 to the lowest level since February 2008. While overall activity was down in most states, the size of the national decline can be traced to California where a new...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/02142013_realty_trac_foreclosures.asp

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MBS RECAP: Rough Day For Bond Markets, Even Before It Began

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Posted To: MBS Commentary

MBS Live : MBS Afternoon Market Summary It's interesting to consider that today's weakness was essentially present from the outset ("interesting" in an awful, painful sort of way). In another sick sort of way, it was also refreshing to see markets making movements that were clearly correlated to related markets and events. Things have been a bit slow recently, and at least from an analytical perspective, they were easier to make sense of today. Sadly, that sense is a bit bearish, but here goes: Europe. That is all.... German Bunds (and other stuff like UK "Gilts") led this charge higher in yield overnight with Treasuries doing a pretty good job of fighting off the bearishness from European "core" debt markets. Quite simply, the as-expected Retail Sales report was then the staging area for tons...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mortgage_rates/blog/295880.aspx

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All-cash Buying on the Rise While Delinquencies Drop; Nevada wants to do what?

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Posted To: Pipeline Press

The talk in the halls here in Houston at the Texas Mortgage Bankers Association secondary conference is about a) diminishing margins for 2013, and b) the level of appropriate government intervention. Yes, in a move that critics say is just another step in nationalization, the state of Nevada (state song: "Nevada Means Home"), in conjunction with the Federal government, may soon be competing with hedge funds and equity firms in buying up properties. Okay, skip that - they'd be buying mortgages . Citing the overhang of distressed homes as a major stumbling block to recovery, Bruce Breslow, Director of Nevada's Department of Business and Industry, is proposing a new program for reducing it: he wants to use federal and other funds to purchase about $150 million in delinquent mortgages and substantially...(read more)

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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/channels/pipelinepress/02132013-all-cash-buying-mortgages.aspx

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