Mortgages Don't Have to Be Confusing

    Interest rates continued their slow decline last week while application volume is inching up almost as slowly. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reports a

    Home sale numbers continue to retreat and in July the National Association of Realtors’® (NAR) Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) fell to its lowest

    The mortgage market seemed to be in a wait-and-see mode last week as the Federal Reserve signaled a might, maybe, we are thinking about

    Two major home price indices show home price appreciation is still running well above historical norms. However, increases in the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller indices

    Existing Homes (the jargon word for a home that has already been owned and occupied) represent a much larger piece of the home sales

    Two weeks ago, we saw a sudden surge in refinancing activity. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported that, during the week ended August 9,

    Residential construction slowed in July. Both the rate of permitting and of housing starts were down from the prior month and starts were the

    The record will show that today’s Housing Market Index (aka “builder confidence”) from the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo fell to 39 from

    A second week of lower interest rates appeared to send homeowners scrambling to refinance their higher-rate mortgages assumed over the last few years. The

    A drop in interest rates pushed mortgage applications sharply higher last week although nearly all the gains belonged to refinancing. The Mortgage Bankers Association

    Interest rates were largely unchanged during the week ended July 26. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) says its Market Composite Index, a measure of

    Signed contracts for home sales increased in June, a broad-based improvement seen in all four major regions of the country. The National Association of

    Home buyers remained on the sidelines as interest rates drifted lower, perhaps paying attention to the Federal Reserve’s musings about future cuts. The Mortgage

    Interest rates and prices continued to curtail home sales in June. The Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported on

    Existing home sales fell in June, but the median sales price hit a record high as it had also done in May. The National

    Mortgage application activity staged a moderately strong recovery from the previous holiday-shortened week, although the recovery was attributable solely to the refinance side of

    The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) blamed high interest for lagging new home sales and the resulting dampened industry confidence in building them.

    Mortgage applications declined slightly on a seasonally adjusted basis last week but plummeted on an unadjusted basis during the July 4th week. The week’s

    Higher interest rates knocked mortgage application volume back last week. But, while purchase volume appears to lose ground year-over-year, refinancing activity is steadily improving

    Slightly lower mortgage rates failed to impress potential borrowers last week. The Mortgage Bankers Association said its Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage

    May turned out to be a dismal month for home sales. Sales of existing homes dipped a modest 0.7 percent from April, but new