Housing Sentiment Springs Back; Rates Trending Higher; High Hopes for Homeownership; Delinquency Shift

After moving along a nearly flat track for several years, consumer sentiment regarding whether "now" is a good time to buy a home started to rise and fall like the tides in late 2016. April saw increasing positives sentiment; the net share of those saying it was a good time gain 5 percentage points to 35 percent after rising and then falling by ten points in February and March. The results of Fannie Mae's National Housing Survey (NHS) also included a shift in the " good time to sell " sentiment, which has always lagged well behind the "buy" responses. Its net percentage began to increase in November and hit a survey high of 31 percent in March but it dropped five points in April. These two questions are among the six from the survey that make up Fannie Mae's Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI

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http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/reports/newsletter/2017/5/9/2782

Mortgage Rates Hold Mostly Steady Despite Market Weakness; Financial Services Committee Confidential

Mortgage rates were generally unchanged today. This is actually quite an accomplishment if you ask the average bond market participant. Mortgage rates are largely determined by bond market movement (specifically, that of Mortgage-Backed Securities or MBS). In the bigger picture, bond markets weakened today. Normally, that would push mortgage rates higher, but today the damage was largely contained in the Treasury sector. There's only so much MBS can do to ignore the suggestion of Treasury momentum, however. So if broader bond markets continue to weaken tomorrow, expect mortgage rates to head a bit higher. Even then, the overall range continues to be exceptionally narrow in the bigger picture. At most, the average quote for top tier 30yr fixed scenarios would only move up from 4.0% to 4.125

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http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/reports/newsletter/2017/5/8/2781

Mortgage Rates Slightly Lower After Jobs Report; Jumbo Loan Trends; Fed on Slow Rate Hike Track

Mortgage rates recovered today, moving sideways to slightly lower after losing ground over the past few days. Today's focal point was the Employment Situation--the big "jobs report" for the month of April. Job creation ended up slightly stronger than expected (211k new jobs created versus a median forecast of 185k). Stronger jobs data typically puts upward pressure on mortgage rates, but in today's case, there were some mitigating factors. The biggest mitigating factor is that rates have simply been moving in a very narrow range, and all the ups/downs we've been discussing in recent weeks aren't tremendously consequential for the average borrower. Beyond that, 211k vs 185k isn't a very big "beat" (+26k). Moreover, the last report was revised from 98k to 79k--a 19k drop, almost fully offsetting

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http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/reports/newsletter/2017/5/5/2777

Rates Higher Ahead of Jobs Report; Fed MBS Exit Key to Affordability; Credit Accessibility Dips

Mortgage rates moved higher today, bringing them back in line with the highest levels in nearly a month. That sounds a bit worse than it actually is, due to the narrow range of rates over that time. In fact, most prospective borrowers would be quoted the same rate as yesterday, with the only difference being slightly higher upfront costs. With extended periods of narrow ranges comes increased odds for a bigger move . There's never any way to tell if such a move will be higher or lower--only that it's more likely. This is especially true as we head into big-ticket events like tomorrow's jobs report. Traders are also tuned in to the weekend's French election results and the various political headlines coming out of Washington. In general, rates had been trending lower through mid-April, and they

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http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/reports/newsletter/2017/5/4/2775

Fed Statement Erases Morning Mortgage Rate Gains; Purchase Apps Not Filling Refi Gap

Mortgage rates ended the day relatively close to ' unchanged ,' depending on the lender. That's somewhat surprising considering the presence of several big-ticket events on today's calendar of potential market movers. Chief among these was the most recent installment of the Fed's policy announcement. While the Fed wasn't necessarily expected to make any policy changes, investors were still scanning for clues about the next Fed statement. In general, the announcement amounted to an optimistic deliver of several pessimistic developments. Some investors were hoping the Fed would pull fewer punches on the pessimistic stuff. In general, economic pessimism goes hand in hand with lower rates. Due to the lack of outright pessimism, rates rose in the afternoon, albeit only slightly. Several lenders

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http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/reports/newsletter/2017/5/3/2773

Home Price Report Defies Odds; Rates Lower Ahead of Fed; Ocwen Restructuring; Homeownership Stumbles

Home prices measured by CoreLogic's Home Price Index (HPI) posted their largest gains in nearly a year in March, continuing to confound the company's own forecasts. The HPI, which includes sales of distressed properties, was up 1.6 percent from February to March. This was the biggest monthly jump since the index gained 1.8 percent from March to April 2016. The January to February increase was 1.0 percent. On an annual basis, the CoreLogic HPI was up 7.1 percent compared to a 7.0 percent year-over-year change in February. The March's increase fell short of December's 7.2 percent advance, the largest advance of 2016. The company is projecting a 0.6 percent appreciation in home prices from March to April and that prices will increase by 4.9 percent on a year-over-year basis from March 2017 to

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http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/reports/newsletter/2017/5/2/2771

Rates' Disproportionate Impact on Refi Pool; Action-Packed Week; Construction Spending Rises

It wouldn't be surprising to find both lenders and consumers suffering from whiplash following the first quarter of 2017. Mortgage rates, which shifted by as much as 30 basis points in either direction during the quarter, took the refinanceable population along for the ride. That population is defined by Black Knight Financial Services in its Mortgage Monitor as homeowners who can both qualify for refinancing and have the motivation to it. In any given week during the quarter, Black Knight says, "relatively small interest rate movements have increased or decreased the size of the refinanceable population by as much as 20 percent." For example, the 30-year fixed rate mortgage dropped below 4.0 percent on April 20 and that increased the refinance pool to 4.1 million, up 46 percent from the 2

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http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/reports/newsletter/2017/5/1/2769