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By Jann Swanson Posted To: MND NewsWire Almost exactly 10 years after he helped pass the legislation that established the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), Mark Anthony Calabria has been nominated by the White House to be its director. If his nomination is confirmed by the Senate, Calabria, currently the Chief Economist in the Office of the Vice President, will …

By Jann Swanson Posted To: MND NewsWire Borrower activity continued to pick up last week as interest rates retreated to September levels and mortgage applications extended their recent winning streak. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said its Market Composite Index, a measure of application volume, increased 1.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis during the week ended December 7. On …

By Matthew Graham Posted To: MBS Commentary Government shutdowns make good news. When risks of a shutdown flare up (especially with today’s sort of political theater) it tends to dominate the news coverage. This creates the risk that shutdown news is perceived to impact bonds in a way that isn’t really accurate. This was the case today, to some extent. …

By Matthew Graham Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch Mortgage rates rose almost imperceptibly today, with a few lenders not showing any detectable changes from yesterday. Still, it was the first time since November 30th that rates were higher than the previous day (on average). Today’s move was so small that most lenders accounted for it in the form of upfront …

By Jann Swanson Posted To: MND NewsWire CoreLogic reports that mortgage delinquency rates were little changed in September. The percentage of mortgage loans that were 30 or more days delinquent and including those in the process of foreclosure declined by 0.6 percentage point on an annual basis, to a national rate of 4.4 percent. Early delinquencies, those 30 to 59 …

By Rob Chrisman Posted To: Pipeline Press I’m a capital markets guy. “Bespoke luxury” isn’t in my vocabulary. First-time home buyer prices and floorplans aren’t in the cards at the new Aston Martin apartment building in Miami . If you buy one of the 47 most expensive apartments, they come with a new DB11. And, not to be outdone, Porsche …

By Matthew Graham Posted To: MBS Commentary Consolidation … That’s that word we use to refer to sideways and frequently narrower trading ranges that follow a period of more directional movement (you can click on the word to go to a full definition). Consolidation is the best case scenario right now, when it comes to defining the modest weakness seen …

By Matthew Graham Posted To: MBS Commentary Bonds struggled to find inspiration for the first few hours of the domestic session, but it was soon in ample supply thanks to Brexit-related headlines ( like this one ). The result was a broad-based risk-off move that saw bonds move back to their strongest recent levels. Notably, though, that’s as far as …