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Markets held more sideways overnight as traders awaited further geopolitical developments today surrounding Greenland. Both stocks and bonds lost ground yesterday on the threat of additional tariffs (and counter-tariffs) as well as decreased participation in the US bond market from foreign wealth funds.  When bonds lose ground, rates move higher.  Bond market improvement was tentative […]

Mortgage rates jumped sharply higher on Tuesday in response to weakness driven by geopolitical events and overseas financial markets. After hitting lows of 5.99% for a few hours on January 9th and spending last week in the low 6’s, the average top tier 30yr fixed rate is back up to 6.21% today.  This matches the

Mortgage rates moved modestly lower for the average lender today, but higher for others. The distinction is whether the lender in question made a late-day adjustment yesterday afternoon.  At the time, the underlying market for mortgage bonds was improving somewhat sharply. This prompted several lenders to drop rates before the end of business. Those lenders

Trading levels in the bond market directly impact the rates that mortgage lenders can offer. This is why rates moved so much lower after last week’s news regarding planned purchases of $200bln in mortgage backed bonds.  But bonds aren’t the only input for rates, and those other inputs can make for days like today where

According to our chart of MND’s mortgage rate index, 30yr fixed rates bottomed at 6.01% yesterday, but that’s because the chart logs the day’s latest entry.  On Friday, until late in the day, the chart showed a rate of 5.99%. It was only after several lenders raised rates in the afternoon that the index moved

Mortgage rates are either higher or lower today, depending on the lender in question. Some lenders raised rates on Friday afternoon in response to weakness in the bond market (lenders set rates based on the trading levels of MBS, the bonds that underlie the mortgage market). Those lenders are actually slightly lower today. Lenders who

President Trump’s plan to restrict institutional investor purchases of single-family homes through bipartisan legislation to promote consumer access to affordable housing does match a past goal pursued by Democrats but has many practical challenges, industry professionals said Thursday. Processing Content “Trying to crack this nut of the affordability issues that we have in this country

Mortgage Rates Modestly Higher on Thursday. Friday’s Risks Are Bigger Mortgage rates were just a hair higher for the average lender on Thursday. The underlying bond market lost some ground following a stronger weekly Jobless Claims report and in sympathy with global bond market weakness overnight.  Because rates are based on bonds, when bonds are