It was an action-packed week for the housing and mortgage market. Wednesday's Fed announcement was the highlight, but we also got several economic reports that caused rate volatility. Thankfully,...
The bond market--which dictates interest rates --had a generally favorable response to yesterday's update from the Federal Reserve. While the Fed didn't cut rates, and while they're increa...
Wednesday brought a full schedule of events and data for the bond market to digest and bonds dictate day to day changes in mortgage rates . The morning's data was perfectly palatable, resu...
A mortgage rate is highly subjective and can vary for a variety of reasons. A news story that provides an outright level like 7.5% requires context and qualification. Some online adve...
Mortgage rates didn't change much at all over the weekend with the average lender still in the highest territory since November. The average conventional 30yr fixed rate is just under 7.5%...
As 2024 has progressed, economic data--especially inflation data--have made it increasingly clear that rates will not be coming down nearly as soon as the Fed (and the market) expected.
Rates&n...
Interest rates care about quite a few different things, but inflation and Fed policy are two of the biggest considerations. One of the Fed's favorite ways to track progress on inflation is...
The average mortgage lender was able to offer conventional 30yr fixed rates that were very close to yesterday's levels despite bond market movement that suggested a bigger spike. In a vast ...
Mortgage rates are driven by day to day changes in the bond market. Bonds are focused on the Fed and the economic data that shapes Fed decisions. Today's data isn't necessarily big o...
Mortgage rates began the new week at almost exactly the same levels seen at the end of last week. There were no major events or economic reports to cause volatility in the underlying bond ...
The Fed expected to be able to cut rates 3 times in 2024 as recently as March. Financial markets agreed. But the data that's come out since then has everyone singing a different tune. This ...
Tuesday marked the highest mortgage rates since November, capping a mini surge that began after last week's inflation data. After a moderate improvement yesterday, rates moved back up toward (b...
Mortgage rates moved lower today after hitting the highest levels since mid November yesterday. Some lenders were down as much as an eighth of a percent, which is on the bigger side for a ...
The bad times keep rolling for mortgage rates with the average conventional 30yr fixed rate back up to 7.5% according to our daily index. This is quite a bit higher than the major weekly ...
In 2023, there were multiple examples of mortgage rates moving up by roughly half a percent in a relatively short amount of time (1-3 weeks). Since the big shift in November, we've only s...
Wednesday was one of the worst days in decades in terms of single-day upward movement in mortgage rates . Thursday added a bit more insult to the injury. The resulting levels were th...
Wednesday's Consumer Price Index caused a brutally fast spike in mortgage rates . It wasn't notable for taking us to exceptionally high levels (October 2023 was much higher), but it was on...
Mortgage rates surged at a pace seen only one other time since October 2022. The average lender moved up by 0.28%, which is functionally equivalent to the 0.29% seen after the February 2nd...
Mortgage rates roughly matched their highest levels in months yesterday, but managed to turn things around today. One could argue that the broader bond market (which dictates rates) began ...
Mortgage rates moved up somewhat abruptly today as the bond market lost more ground over the weekend. Rates are driven primarily by bonds, but mortgage lenders tend to only update rates on...
Data dependent... That's a phrase that is all too prevalent in financial markets and among members of the Federal Reserve. It refers to the fact that economic data will guide the future pat...
Mortgage rates may have been able to claim some resilience over the past few days, but it hasn't been a great week in general. The average lender jumped quickly over 7% for a top tier conv...
After starting the week with a sharp move higher, mortgage rates managed to avoid losing much ground yesterday. This was only achieved with a recovery in the bond market that erased early...
After starting the week with a fairly large jump, mortgage rates had a much calmer day on Tuesday. This was made all the more impressive by the fact that the underlying bond market sugges...
March ended with a streak of some of the flattest day-over-day changes in mortgage rates on record. It was all but certain that the new week/month would bring a change to that sideways tr...
Unfortunately, we don't have a great way to measure all of the past precedents, but it's safe to say that the this was one of the least volatile weeks in the history of mortgage rates . Ou...
There are probably only a few 4-day streaks with effectively no movement in mortgage rates , and this is one of them. After falling to 6.91% last Friday, the MND rate index hasn't moved mo...
After moving back under 7% last week (conventional, 30yr fixed, top tier scenario), mortgage rates have been increasingly unlikely to move. Today was the 2nd day in a row with essentially...
Mortgage rates enjoyed a decently strong week last week, with the average top tier conventional 30yr fixed rate moving down to 6.91% by Friday from 7.09% on the previous Friday. To put tod...
As the broader market continued rubbing its eyes in disbelief over the Fed's exceptionally calm attitude on inflation, bonds continued to improve today. Stronger bonds mean lower rates.&nbs...
It's Thursday and thus time once again to check in with Freddie Mac's weekly mortgage rate survey versus reality. To be fair, it's not that Freddie isn't participating in reality. It'...
The rate market was intently focused on today's announcement from the Federal Reserve. While many news headlines emphasize the Fed "holding rates steady," but that's not what the bond marke...
Mortgage rates were roughly unchanged on Tuesday, capping a short but meaningful losing streak over the past 6 business days. During that time, the average 30yr fixed rate move back into the low...
Rates marched higher to the highest levels in March today, but most lenders are only microscopically worse off than Friday afternoon. In the slightly bigger picture rates have moved up roug...
Back in late 2023, we got in the car with the Federal Reserve with the promise of a trip to our favorite place: the land of lower interest rates . In 2024, we keep asking "are we there yet?" The...
Even though Tuesday's consumer-oriented inflation report (CPI) had the biggest potential to cause drama for rates, it was today's wholesale inflation report that did the most damage.
The Produc...
Mortgage rates are nowhere near their highs from a few short weeks ago, let alone the much higher highs from late 2023, but they are at the highest levels this week after rising for the past 3 d...
Today brought the release of one of the most consequential economic reports that comes out on any given month: the Consumer Price Index (CPI). CPI measures inflation and inflation is a big ...
Mortgage rates hit their best levels in more than a month by the end of last week after moving lower for 4 straight days. If you could only know one thing about today, it's that although r...
It was a hotly anticipated week for interest rates due to the arrival of the first batch of big ticket economic data since the Inflation report that came out on February 13th. This week's data ...
Since hitting 2 month highs last Tuesday, mortgage rates have mostly moved lower. The past 3 days have all seen solid improvements in response to economic data and an absence of unfriendl...
Conventional 30yr fixed mortgage rates in the high 6 percent range have been available months now, and that didn't change in the past few weeks when rates moved up from longer-term lows. ...
Mortgage rates are driven by movement in the bond market. Bonds can move for several reasons at any given moment, but a key consideration these days is the tone of the regularly scheduled ...
Mortgage rates were at the best levels in 2 weeks as of last Friday and today's offerings are only modestly higher. One counterpoint is that it didn't take much to hit 2-week lows in a rat...
The average lender was offering slightly higher rates this morning when compared to yesterdays latest levels, but things began to change after 10am ET. That's when today's economic data cau...
In the bigger picture, mortgage rates would still be best described as "trending gently higher," but in the shorter term, today was a victory. The average lender moved from quoting conven...
Despite the release of economic data that sounds like it should matter to markets (mainly "GDP"), the bonds that drive interest rates had a remarkably calm day on Wednesday. This is the l...
One of the downsides of rates being very close to the highest levels in months is that it doesn't take much of nudge to hit new highs. That was ALMOST the case today as the average lender m...
Mortgage rates moved moderately higher to begin the new week, but they remained just under the highest recent levels seen last Thursday. Many lenders were closer to 'unchanged' at the outs...
One of the upsides of these weeks with boring, sideways movement in the rate market is that it doesn't take much of an improvement to undo several days of damage. Today brought just such an...