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Mortgage rates were surprisingly steady on Tuesday with most lenders roughly in line with Monday’s levels. Why surprising?  Because the bond market was noticeably weaker and bonds dictate day to day mortgage rate movement. In Tuesday’s case, we can actually reconcile the steadiness with the timing of bond market movement. Specifically, bonds didn’t lose ground […]

Both stocks and bonds lost ground on Monday. This pushed mortgage rates up near their highest levels in just over 3 months (because mortgages are based on bond prices).  To put the 3-month highs in perspective, today’s rates are right in line with those seen 2 weeks ago. When we see a larger-than-average shift in

(Bloomberg) — The bond market’s reaction to the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate cuts has been highly unusual. By some measures, a disconnect like this, with Treasury yields climbing as the central bank lowers rates, hasn’t been seen since the 1990s. What the divergence indicates is a matter of heated debate. Opinions are all over the place,

Average mortgage rates drifted slightly higher to end the week, though they remained under the levels seen on Monday and Tuesday. Even then, none of this week’s movement was especially abrupt. That’s interesting considering there was a decent amount of economic data throughout the week. It could be that the rate market is simply waiting

Today’s mortgage rates a just a hair higher than yesterday’s and although yesterday’s rates were reasonably close to last Friday’s, they were still definitely higher. That last assertion is at odds with some of the mortgage rate media coverage you may encounter today, but there’s a logical reason. Freddie Mac releases its weekly mortgage rate

Mortgage rates improved more noticeably today, and while the average rate isn’t quite as low as it was last week, it’s fairly close.  Rates are based on movement in the bond market. Bonds were most likely to move in response to one or both of today’s big economic reports.  Oddly enough, most of the bond

Unlike Monday, which saw a fairly brisk move toward higher rates, Tuesday barely budged. Additionally, the budging occurred in a friendly direction with the average lender offering rates that were just a hair lower than yesterday’s.  Starting tomorrow morning, this week’s potential volatility will be higher. Each day brings several economic reports  with the power

Mortgage rates are based on bonds and the bond market is prone to erratic behavior on major holiday weeks. One of the more common patterns is for the holiday week to see a noticeable departure from a prevailing trend only to return to that trend in the following week.  That’s exactly what we’re seeing on

As is most often the case, the Friday after Thanksgiving added nothing interesting to mortgage rate momentum.  The average lender’s top tier 30yr fixed rate is exactly where it was on Wednesday.  The underlying bond market closes early today, but will be fully open next week.  At that point, we’re likely to see some volatility

Wednesday was far less eventful than the first two days of the week as far as mortgage rates were concerned. The average lender raised rates just a hair, but apart from yesterday, these are the lowest levels in a month and very close to the lowest levels in more than 3 years. Bond markets and