mortgage market

FHFA Extends Forbearance Periods an Extra Three Months

Posted To: MND NewsWire

Most of the accommodations that have been allowed lenders and borrowers by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) due to the COVID-19 pandemic were modified or extended this past week. FHFA, the regulator and conservator of the GSEs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, extended eligibility for mortgage forbearance by three months. Forbearance allows homeowners who are financially impacted by the pandemic, to temporarily reduce or forego mortgage payments. It has been available for three-month terms with extensions available up to a total of 12 months. Existing plans would begin reaching that deadline at the end of March but FHFA has now authorized an additional three-month term , a total of 15 months. An estimated 2.7 million homeowners are in active plans. The COVID-19 Payment Deferral allows forborne…(read more)

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Fannie Mae’s 2020 earnings fall due to COVID-related credit expenses

While its net income declined annually for the second consecutive year, CEO Hugh Frater touted Fannie Mae’s resiliency in a record year for providing mortgage liquidity.

Mortgage and refinance rates today, February 12, 2021

Today’s mortgage and refinance rates  Average mortgage rates nudged higher yesterday, neatly canceling out Wednesday’s fall. So they remain within their ualow range. So far this morning, it’s looking as […]

Mortgage and refinance rates today, February 11, 2021

Today’s mortgage and refinance rates  Average mortgage rates nudged lower again yesterday. And, as Freddie Mac and Mortgage News Daily point out, they’re now pretty much back to where they […]

Conforming Loan Standards Loosened in January

Posted To: MND NewsWire

Access to mortgage credit increased again in January. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said its Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI) rose 2.0 percent to 124.6. A decline in the MCAI indicates that lending standards are tightening, while increases in the index are indicative of loosening credit. The two components of the Conventional MCAI posted significant increases. The Conforming MCAI jumped 7.7 percent and the Jumbo component was up 2.2 percent, pushing the parent index up 4.8 percent compared to December. This was slightly offset by an 0.1 percent decline in the Government MCAI. “The growth in credit availability in January coincides with a housing market that is poised for a strong start to the year . Improvements were driven by the conventional segment of the mortgage market…(read more)

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When Will The Mortgage Market Actually Care About Rising Rates?

There’s an obvious trend toward higher rates as far as Treasury yields are concerned. This goes all the way back to August. Treasury yields and mortgage rates historically correlate quite well. But mortgage rates have almost completely ignored that correlation recently. In fact, most of the 2nd half of 2020 saw mortgage rates fall while Treasury yields continued higher. The chart above doesn’t tell the whole story because it uses a separate y-axis for each line. Here’s the same time frame with mortgage rates and 10yr yields on the same axis: That still doesn’t tell us much although we can certainly see different patterns. Here’s another look at the same two rates on the same axis, but this time we’re charting the CHANGE since Jan 1, 2020. This one probably tells the story better than the rest

For the third week in a row, mortgage rates stay at 2.73%

For the third week in a row, the average mortgage rate for a 30-year fixed loan remained unchanged at 2.73%, according to Freddie Mac.

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Mortgage and refinance rates today, February 8, 2021

Today’s mortgage and refinance rates  Average mortgage rates inched higher again last Friday. Although last week saw mostly rises, each movement was small. And these rates remain exceptionally low. First […]