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When the administration announced that Fannie and Freddie would be buying mortgage-backed securities in early January, rates fell sharply to the lowest levels in more than 3 years. After a moderate rebound the following week, we’ve been holding mostly steady in a range that was 0.1-0.2 above those long-term lows. The past two days have […]

Just one day after an incredibly strong jobs report–something that would normally create problematic upward momentum for rates–the average lender is back to the lowest levels since January 16th. At the risk of overusing a played-out metaphor, this was not on many experts’ bingo cards. Even with the benefit of hindsight, it’s not entirely possible

Modest Increase in Rates is a Win. Here’s Why Mortgage rates moved 0.03% higher today. On almost any other day, this would be a bit of a bummer, but in today’s case, it’s a victory. There was a ton of potential volatility in the underlying bond market heading into the day due to the scheduled

Mortgage rates fell on Tuesday following a downbeat Retail Sales report. At 0.05%, it was the largest single-day drop since the uncommonly big 0.15% drop on January 9th. This also takes the average 30yr fixed rate to 6.11%, easily below its recently narrow range of 6.15-6.20. The bonds that drive mortgage rates are always tuned

The past 2 weeks have seen very little volatility for mortgage rates.  After being near 6% for a week in early January, rates rose abruptly to 6.21% (avg top tier 30yr fixed) on January 20th in response to geopolitical drama. They’ve generally descended since then, but in slow, measured steps.   Today’s result was actually a

In the bigger picture, the past two and a half weeks have been marked by a very narrow range in the bond market. Because bonds dictate mortgage rates, the latter have also been in a narrow range with average top tier 30yr fixed rates of 6.15-6.20%.  Yesterday’s employment-related data helped bonds improve. Many lenders made

Mortgage rates are driven by bonds and that bonds care about employment data. There are quite a few different economic reports that focus on various employment metrics. Next Wednesday’s jobs report is the biggest ticket by far, but other reports can move the needle at times–especially when they fall far from forecasts or previous readings.

The average top tier 30yr fixed mortgage rate hit its highest levels in 2 weeks yesterday. The caveat was that the range has been very narrow during these 2 weeks. As such, by remaining unchanged versus yesterday, today’s rates are part of the same narrow range (6.15-6.20% for MND’s index). There were two relevant economic

The bad news: mortgage rates moved up to their highest levels in 2 weeks today.  The good news: the rate range has been very narrow during that time, so there’s not too much of a difference between 2-week highs (6.20%) and lows (6.15%).  Today’s move wasn’t a product of anything that happened today. Rather, the

Weakness in the bond market generally means higher mortgage rates. Today was no exception. A key economic report on the manufacturing sector was much stronger than expected. Bonds lost ground as a result and mortgage lenders were forced to set rates higher than Friday’s latest levels. But the caveat is that the average lender was