wall street journal

What It Means When More Than Half Of The Delinquent Homeowners Go Delinquent Again

December 9, 2008

Earlier this year and under pressure from the government, mortgage lenders made more than 200,000 loan modifications to delinquent homeowners. The modifications came in one of three forms, or a combination: Interest rate reduction Loan term extension Principal forgiveness But despite the modifications, as of October 1, more than half of the homeowners that received assistance were already two months behind on their modified monthly payments.

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Mortgage Markets In Review : December 8, 2008

December 8, 2008

In a week in which mortgage markets struggled to find direction, mortgage rates edged higher overall. The weekly increase was the first since mid-November and it may signal higher rates as we head into 2009. The week’s most talked-about story hit the wires Friday.

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Looking Back And Looking Ahead : December 1, 2008

December 1, 2008

Government action fueled a mortgage market rally last week, leading mortgage rates lower for the second consecutive week. Despite soft housing numbers and evidence of a slowing economy, mortgage rate shoppers found reason to celebrate: Citigroup was “rescued” Wall Street liked the new economic team The government pledged $600 billion to buy investment-grade mortgage bonds […]

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Looking Back And Looking Ahead : November 24, 2008

November 25, 2008

As the stock market retraced to its 1997 level, mortgage markets improved last week — but not by much. Mortgage rates closed out the week slightly lower, but the week wasn’t without fireworks. Calls of deflation grew louder The automakers left Washington without a bailout Citigroup’s stock price fell to the equivalent of its ATM […]

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Deflation And What It Means To Americans

November 24, 2008

Business television and newspapers have made deflation a hot topic this week and, since Monday, Google has tracked 13,000 mentions of it. Deflation is a recurring cycle in which the prices of goods and services fall. Isolated to one industry or sector, falling prices is the natural result of competition. For example, when DVD players […]

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Plunging Housing Starts Is Bad News For Spring 2009 Home Buyers

November 20, 2008

When it comes to housing data, there are always two questions to consider: How does this impact buyers? How does this impact sellers? This is why housing data is rarely positive or negative on a universal level — one group of Americans is going to see benefit. Today, it’s home sellers. From the government, we […]

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Mortgage Rates Buck Conventional Wisdom And Rise Despite The Plunging Cost Of Living Index

November 20, 2008

If the presence of inflation causes mortgage rates to rise, then the absence of inflation should cause mortgage rates to fall. And, in most markets that’s true. Today, it’s not. Despite a deep, month-over-month dip in consumer prices not seen since 1947, mortgage rates are inching higher this morning. The main reason why rates are […]

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Looking Back And Looking Ahead : November 10, 2008

November 10, 2008

Mortgage rates fell last week, marking just the second time since September that rates improved on a weekly basis. The biggest news of the week was the U.S. Presidential Election. Markets appeared to cheer the Republican-to-Democrat transfer of power, posting large gains Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. This in spite of a spate of negative economic […]

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Looking Back And Looking Ahead : November 3, 2008

November 3, 2008

As global credit markets deteriorated in October, mortgage markets displayed an unnerving amount of volatility. Last week was no different. But, unlike in previous weeks in which rates improved on some days and worsened on others, mortgage rates were mostly higher last week, finishing the month on a surge. The biggest reason why mortgage rates […]

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Looking Back And Looking Ahead : October 27, 2008

October 27, 2008

Mortgage markets followed the recurring trading pattern of 2008 last week — volatility, volatility, and more volatility. After opening with a strong performance that drove rates down, late-week fears of a global recession reversed that path. Mortgage rates ended the week unchanged. This was an unexpected outcome for the week considering that: The dollar gained […]

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Home Sales Are Up, Home Supply Is Down — This Is What A Recovering Market Looks Like

October 27, 2008

Statistics are what you make of them, but sometimes, they can provide good perspective. For example, from its peak in 2005 to its trough in late-2007, the number of “used” homes sold nationwide plunged. In 2005: Roughly 7 million homes sold annually In 2007: Roughly 5 million homes sold annually Through all of 2008, though, […]

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Why Homeowners With Adjusting Adjustable Rate Mortgages May Be In For A Surprise

October 15, 2008

For homeowners with soon-to-adjust adjustable rate mortgages, the recent banking turmoil worldwide may lead to budgetary pain. This is because most conforming ARMs made since 2003 are based on a borrowing cost called LIBOR and LIBOR is up an uncharacteristic 2 percent since September. LIBOR stands for London Interbank Offered Rate and is the rate at which […]

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Why Mortgage Rates Haven’t Fallen As Expected

October 10, 2008

When the government nationalized mortgage lending in September, housing analysts predicted lower mortgage rates. For a brief two-week stint, they were right — post-takeover, the 30-year, fixed rate mortgage fell below 6.000 percent nationally for the first time in 7 months. Since then, however, mortgage markets have reversed. Rates are now at pre-takeover levels. Now, […]

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Looking Back And Looking Ahead : September 29, 2008

September 29, 2008

Mortgage rates bounced around last week, ending up worse overall.  It was the second straight week in which rates deteriorated.  Sentiment was driven largely by the proposed Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 — a.k.a. The $700 Billion Bailout. The good news is that Congress drafted its bill Sunday evening and within the 110 pages, […]

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Falling Home Supplies Are Bad News For Home Buyers (But Good News For Home Sellers)

September 25, 2008

The August Existing Home Sales report was released Wednesday, showing a decline in the number of homes sold nationwide, and a reduction in the median sales price. Not surprisingly, the media singled these two statistics out, playing them as a big negative. They’re not. The decline in sales wasn’t good, but it wasn’t terrible, either — sales […]

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Making English Out Of Fed-Speak (September 2008 Edition)

September 16, 2008

For the third consecutive meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee left the Fed Funds Rate unchanged at 2.000 percent. Of interest to mortgage rate shoppers, the FOMC led its press release with comments about the health of the financial and labor markets, calling them “strained” and “weakened”, respectively.  The relative weakness in both of these […]

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Mortgage Rates Fall As The Unemployment Rate Rises

September 5, 2008

On the first Friday of every month, the government releases its Non-Farm Payrolls report. More commonly called the “jobs report”, the two-page analysis examines the nooks and crannies of the U.S. economy to see which industries are hiring and which are firing. The August jobs report was released this morning and it shows that the […]

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Looking Back And Looking Ahead : September 2, 2008

September 2, 2008

For the first time in 4 weeks, mortgage rates closing a week lower than where they opened it Markets shrugged off uncertainty about Hurricane Gustav and chose to rally on the backs of strong economic data. Overall, rates were down by about 0.125 percent, or $96 per year per $100,000 borrowed. Markets were influenced by […]

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Making English Out Of Fed-Speak (August 2008 Edition)

August 5, 2008

For the second consecutive meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee left the Fed Funds Rate unchanged at 2.000 percent. In its press release, the Federal Reserve addresses inflation, saying that it “has been high”, fingering energy and commodity costs as culprits.  The Fed does expects inflation to moderate later this year, however. Regarding recession, the Fed […]

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Looking Back And Looking Ahead : August 4, 2008

August 4, 2008

In a week in which stock markets moved 1 percent or more on four separate days, mortgage markets displayed a relative calmness that helped pull rates lower. It was the second consecutive week that mortgage rates improved. Last week’s biggest story came Monday when the housing bill was passed into law.  The new law provides lifelines […]

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