Kevin Hawkins's (kevinhawkins) Blog

Interesting news today (Sept. 7, 2011) from the Mortgage Bankers trade group: applications are 35% below where they were last year despite hitting the "second lowest" 30 Year fixed mortgage rates the MBA has recorded.  Here is their news release from today: Mortgage applications decreased 4.9 per...

The Conference Board issued it's Employment Trend Index and while it was down slightly from July's number, it is up 4.1% from a year ago August. Here is a news release from the Conference Board and some key links to the data: "Conference Board Employment Trends Index™ (ETI) decreased again in Aug...

Zillow issued the following press release.  It is interesting to note that their rates are well below the weekly rates that BankRate or Freddie Mac (due tomorrow, on Thursday) issues, but they should be more timely as rates can change not only daily, but with real-time pricing in Fannie Mae MBS, ...

Watch for a new round of news headlines on the economic debt crisis still brewing in Europe. Despite claims that the problems are being addressed, the Greek 2 year yield is at 50% -- that is correct fifty-percent yield -- as noted by a recent post in Calculated Risk. The link for the Greek yield ...

Last week's silver lining for housing came in the form of mortgage rates, pushed lower by the cloud of financial market turmoil. The average 30-year fixed rate stayed near historic lows, while the average 15-year fixed rate hit a new low for records back to 1991. The average rate for 5-year Treas...

With the tepid economy, no one expects the Fed to touch the Funds Rate. But everyone will be carefully analyzing the policy statement coming out of the August 9 FOMC meeting for any indication if new quantitative easing (QE3) might be in the offing -- another massive multi-billion dollar bond buy...

Italian debt probs helped bonds all week, though prices retreated on Friday after Italy said it would speed up fiscal reform if the European Central Bank bought its bonds. The FNMA 4.0% bond we watch ended the week up .98, at $102.16. Despite the worry that bond markets would see a spike in yield...

You can't sugar coat last week's stock market performance, the worst drop in over two years. You also can't come up with a consistent explanation for why investors were so intent on selling. Congress and the President reached an agreement to raise the debt ceiling and it did have something for ev...

There's a Fed meeting on Tuesday but no one sees a rise in the Funds Rate coming out of it. Note: In the lower chart, a 1% probability of change is a 99% certainty the rate will stay the same. Current Fed Funds Rate: 0%–0.25% After FOMC meeting on: Consensus Aug 9 0%–0.25% Sep 20 0%–0.25% Nov 2 0...

From my weekly enewsletter for real estate pros, INSIDE LENDING, for the week of Aug. 8, 2011:   Date Time (ET) Release For Consensus Prior Impact TuAug 9 08:30 Productivity-Prelim. Q2 -0.6%% 1.8% Moderate TuAug 9 14:15 FOMC Rate Decision 8/9 0-0.25% 0-0.25% HIGH WAug 10 10:30 Crude Inventories 8...