Category: Newsletters

There are those who always try to portray the glass as being half full when it comes to the housing market. Then there are those who love a full glass, but who also call it like they see it. Right now, each camp has something to agree on: the glass is more full than it…
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Mortgage rates officially hit their lowest levels in 4 months after this week’s inflation data. Despite the recent progress, Fed officials continue to talk about keeping rates high “for as long as possible.” Who’s telling the truth? First off, we know that mortgage rates are at 4 month lows because that assertion relies on the…
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The Federal Reserve (aka “The Fed”) has a parrot problem, and it’s on a crash course with economic reality… maybe. The Fed sets policies that impact interest rates in an attempt to keep inflation in check without crippling the economy.  After arguably leaving rate-friendly policies intact too long in 2021, they scrambled to put the…
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So long 2022!  Don’t let the door hit you.  You were the worst year for mortgage rates that most of us have seen in our lifetimes in terms of the pace of the rate spike.  Sure, our friends who have more “life experience” are happy to remind us about their double digit mortgage rates in…
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It was a critical week for financial markets and especially for rates as investors digested the latest inflation data and the Fed’s smaller rate hike.  In fact, the latest inflation data could be thought of as the most important and most persistent focus for rates all year long. When it comes to measuring inflation, there…
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Tuesday December 13th is the day many people have been waiting for ever since Thursday November 10th. What do those two days have in common? They each mark the monthly release of the Consumer Price Index, the official inflation data responsible for some of 2022’s wildest trading days. Wild trading days aren’t just for traders. …
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As far as financial markets are concerned, a green Christmas is better than anything Bing Crosby could have crooned about. Green is the color that flashes when markets are improving or when interest rates are falling. Green, for lack of a better word, is good. For mortgage rates, it’s been an especially difficult year.  They’ve…
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Heading into this week, we knew that Thursday’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) would be critically important. It did not disappoint. CPI is one of two key inflation reports in the US.  PCE (Personal Consumption Expenditures) is the other big index, but because CPI comes out 2 weeks earlier, it gets almost all of the market’s…
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The Federal Reserve hiked rates by 0.75% this week and 30yr fixed mortgage rates moved moderately higher.  Interestingly enough, those two things are fairly unrelated. The Fed Funds Rate (the thing the Fed “hikes” when you hear about the Fed hiking rates) applies to overnight loans among large financial institutions.  It’s important, to be sure, but it…
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The average 30yr fixed mortgage rate officially moved over 7% this week according to major weekly surveys, but mortgage rates actually moved lower! Why the discrepancy?  It’s fairly simple. Weekly rate surveys lag reality.  For instance, most of the responses for Freddie Mac’s survey (the most widely cited among news organizations) are in by Tuesday,…
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