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Mortgage rates are based on bonds and bonds don’t like inflation.  When inflation reports are higher than the market expected, rates tend to rise, all other things being equal.   But today’s inflation numbers were a bit lower than the median forecast. This scenario is typically more likely to push rates lower.  Indeed, in the first […]

Today’s movement in mortgage rates, in and of itself, is barely worth mentioning.  The average lender remains close enough to Friday’s levels but is technically just a hair higher.  That fact is offset by the counterpoint that most of the past two months saw higher rates. The future is far more interesting than the present–specifically,

Yesterday, we characterized the prevailing mortgage rate momentum as “broadly sideways,” and while that’s still very true in the bigger picture, words like “up” and “higher” might need to be sprinkled in this week. For those with a glass-half-empty approach, today’s rates are the highest of the week and the highest since June 24th.  For

Most of this week’s mortgage rate movement has been an aftershock following last week’s jobs report. That data sent rates quickly higher and that momentum has gradually faded over the past few days. In fact, yesterday finally saw an improvement.  Now today, things are minimally changed, depending on the lender. Most lenders issued at least

It’s a bit of a stretch to refer to the past week as a “losing streak” for mortgage rates. The worst part about it was the consistency of upward movement starting last Wednesday. In terms of the size of that movement, things have been less traumatic considering the average lender was still at the lowest levels

Bad news first: mortgage rates have been moving steadily higher in July with the average top tier 30yr fixed scenario rising from 6.67% to 6.81% in just 4 business days.  This isn’t an incredibly abrupt move, but it’s slightly brisk compared to the average day of rate movement. The good news is twofold. First off,

For the entire 2nd half of June, it was easy to be spoiled by the absence of volatility in mortgage rates. During that time, rates were either lower or unchanged every single day. The past few business days have been a different story. This began last Wednesday as the bond market began a small correction

Major US trading partners hurried over the weekend to secure trade deals or lobby for extra time, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicated that some countries lacking an agreement by the deadline Wednesday will have the option of a three-week extension to negotiate. READ MORE: NAHB’s top economist weighs tariffs, immigration, economics “We’re going to

Today brought the hotly anticipated jobs report.  This is the “official” job count and unemployment rate data for the U.S. and no other report has as much consistent power to cause volatility in the rate market.  Today’s was particularly important because a perpetually decent labor market is the main justification for the Fed to wait