Mortgages Don't Have to Be Confusing

   The National Association of Realtors’ Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) tracks purchase contract signings that have not yet turned into Existing Home Sales. Things haven’t

   There are two dominant home price indices released each month in the U.S.  The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is responsible for the most all-inclusive

   It’s not uncommon for certain medications to come with warnings about avoiding certain activities like driving or operating heavy machinery due to the risk of

   This week’s update on refinance application demand accurately reflects the fact that rates came into the week near their recent highs, but managed to fall

   The National Association of Homebuilders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (aka “builder confidence”) hasn’t been in a purgatory of sorts, ever since the big interest rate

   The Census Bureau released its New Residential Construction report this week, frequently referred to by its principal component “housing starts” (a term for the start

   The Mortgage Bankers Association conducts a weekly survey on the level of mortgage applications, both for purchases and refinances.  Both data series continue to be

   As is the case with a majority of housing and mortgage market data these days, the Existing Home Sales data from NAR is heavily dependent

   As we noted last week, the timing of the improvements in mortgage rates meant that the previous survey of mortgage applications from the MBA was

   The Census Bureau released new home sales data for January this week, and the annual pace was a seemingly significant 10.5% lower than last month’s

   As is the case almost every week of the year, the Mortgage Bankers Association released its weekly mortgage app survey this week, showing the changes

   The massive spike and subsequent correction in home price appreciation (mid-2020 through early 2023) generated lots of opinions and concerns about the fate of the

   The National Association of Realtors released its Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) today, which measures home purchase contracts that have been signed, but not yet

   Per the latest release from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), both refinance and purchase indices decreased this week. In terms of the change from the

   The National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) along with Wells Fargo released the monthly builder confidence index this week, and it came out much weaker than

   The Census Bureau released its New Residential Construction report this week, frequently referred to by its principal component “housing starts” (a term for the start

   In this week’s update on mortgage applications from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), purchases continued a modest retreat but refinance demand improved for the 2nd

   There are two main styles of measurement when it comes to keeping track of mortgage rates: daily and weekly.  Sometimes, the differences in methodologies mean

   The National Association of Realtors (NAR) released its Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) for December this morning.  Pending sales measures the number signed purchase contracts

   Both S&P Case-Shiller and the FHFA released national home price indices this morning. In both cases, November’s prices were slightly higher than expected.  For the

   The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) weekly mortgage application survey showed a modest decrease in refinance applications and an even more modest increase in purchase applications.