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Last Week in Review: The Good News Flow Continues This past week, we watched home loan rates tick modestly higher and retreat from three-year lows. Why? There are three main reasons: U.S and Iran. On Wednesday, the de-escalation of tensions between the U.S. and Iran brought an immediate sense of calm to the financial markets. As a […]

Last Week in Review: Nice Start to 2020 The new year and new decade started, and good news, some things don’t change. Stocks picked up right where they left off in 2019 by touching all-time highs. And Bonds, which also performed well in 2019, continue to hover near three-year highs, keeping home loan rates near 3-year […]

Last Week in Review: Global Improvement 2019 was an incredible year for Stocks, which finished the final trading week of the year at all-time highs. Generally speaking, when Stocks go higher, so do rates. And that was the case this past week as home loan rates ticked up to the highest levels in months. So, what […]

Last Week in Review: Goldilocks 2.0 As we enter the final weeks of 2019, the housing and home lending sectors have enjoyed a good year thanks to a “Goldilocks” scenario of a tight labor market, rising wages, consumer confidence, and three-year low interest rates. Many are asking “What should we expect for housing, and thus lending, […]

Last Week in Review: Changes That Could Affect Rates There are rumors that our Fed is considering an idea to abandon its present 2% target rate for inflation in favor of a floating target where inflation would be allowed to rise above 2% for some time before considering hiking rates. This comes with two consequences that mortgage lenders, […]

Last Week in Review: A Great Housing Backdrop Many are wondering what lies ahead for housing as we enter 2020. There are many reasons why the U.S. housing sector should do well for the foreseeable future, but here's three main reasons for the bright outlook: Housing Starts are improving. This is especially true for single-family homes, which […]

Last Week in Review: The Definition of Goldilocks "Looking ahead, my colleagues and I see a sustained expansion of economic activity, a strong labor market, and inflation near our symmetric 2% objective as most likely." -- Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, 11/13/2019 This quote from our Fed Chair on Capitol Hill this past week was the definition […]

Last Week in Review: How Fast Rates Can Change Right now, the biggest news story to follow is the U.S. and China trade negotiations. This past week, home loans started inching higher but were "saved" momentarily midweek when reports came out suggesting a delay of a "phase one" trade deal signing. Remember that Bonds and home […]

Last Week in Review: Fed Takes Action This past week the Federal Reserve cut the Fed Funds Rate for the third time this year, by .25%. Along with the rate cut, the Fed released a statement that suggested a "pause" in further cuts, but stated they will be ready to act again should "slowing global conditions" […]

Last Week in Review: The Remedy for Higher Rates This past week home loan rates were essentially unchanged from the previous week, breaking a trend of higher rates since the beginning of October. Bonds hate good news and there is still plenty to go around: U.S./China trade dispute progress Brexit progress Corporate earnings remain positive, as […]