House flipping was common at the peak of the housing bubble in the last decade. While not near the highs of 2005, house flipping is at its highest since 2006, according to a report by Attom Solutions. Gross profits from flipping are higher than during the peak flipping years of 2004-2006. Memphis, Las Vegas and … Continue reading House Flippers Return In Force, At 11-year High (Memphis, Las Vegas, Phoenix In Top Five, Washington DC Averaged $304K Gross Profit on Flipped Homes) →
The LIBOR-OIS spread (between the 3 month Libor rate and the 3 month USD swap overnight indexed swap [OIS]) has risen to its highest levels since early 2012.
The 3 month LIBOR rate is now at 2.145%.
The implied probability of a Fed rate hike at the n…
US Industrial Production rose 1.1% MoM in February and 4.35% YoY. That is the best YoY reading since 2011.
Brookings Institute is an economic policy think tank in Washington DC. Brennan Hoban of Brookings has a proposal to redesign the mortgage market. But it is hard to take this proposal seriously since … Ginnie Mae INSURES mortgages, they do not purchase them from lenders. True, non-bank lenders like Quicken Loans (and now Amazon is … Continue reading Brookings Institute Claims That Ginnie Mae Purchases Mortgages (Psst: They Don’t!) And Proposes A Redesign Of The Mortgage Market →
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has released their report for February. In a nutshell, 313k jobs were added, Labor Force Participation increased to 63%, but YoY average hourly earnings fell to 2.6%. Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 313,000 in February, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor … Continue reading Jobs Friday! 313K Jobs Added [Higher Than Expected], Labor Force Participation Increases, Wage Growth Declines (Jobless Rate Holds at 4.1%) →
Another retail giant bites the dust. (Bloomberg) — Toys “R” Us Inc. is making preparations for a liquidation of its bankrupt U.S. operations after so far failing to find a buyer or reach a debt restructuring deal with lenders, according to people familiar with the matter. While the situation is still fluid, a shutdown of the U.S. … Continue reading Toys ‘R’ Us Is Said to Prepare for Shutdown of U.S. Operations (Pittsburgh Leads In Retail Loan Delinquencies at 27%) →
Freddie Mac’s US Mortgage Market Survey 30 Year Homeowner Commitment National rate has jumped to its highest level since January 2014.
Goldman Sach’s Gary Cohn has resigned from the Trump Administration, allegedly over Trump’s threat of imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum. It is not the resignation of Cohn that is causing the jitters (there are plenty of smart, free trade advocates around).
Phil Hall at National Mortgage Professional Magazine penned this piece on the Banking bill to reduce some of the damaging effects of the Dodd-Frank legislation from The Great Recession.
(Bloomberg) — USD Libor-OIS spread widens to 41.8bp, widest since October 2016 and near the 43.7bp reached in September 2016 as the markets prepared for the SEC’s money-market reforms.