Welcome to our 5/22/13 lender's morning update and portal to the rest of our website

Wed. 5/22/13, day 142 with 223 days remaining in 2013
Quotes below as of 10:00 AM (EDT)

- Freddie Mac 10 day delivery rate : 3.17%
- Long Bond Yield : 3.10%
- Benchmark 10-Year T: 1.89%

-30Y/Fannie yield spread : + 7 BP
-10Y/Fannie yield spread : +128 BP

- 30-Day moving average for delivery rate : 3.04%
- 10-Day Delivery rate a month ago today: 2.98%
- 10-Day Delivery rate a year ago today: 3.23%

* * * Precisely what the "Delivery Rate" is (besides the basis of most fixed rate loans) can be learned in our Glossary of Terms Used. * * *

We watched in bewilderment at what the markets did this morning and we are a bit concerned about it. The credit markets opened up in okay shape and was even moving in the right direction from our perspective. We had conflicting stimuli hitting the markets almost simultaneously: Pre-owned home sales and Bernanke testimony on Capitol Hill.

Bernanke said that there will be no hikes to the short-term rates they control “anytime soon.” That should have been a plus for credit instrument prices. Then we heard that pre-owned home sales resold at an annual pace of 4.97 million nits sold and closed while inventory levels rose to 5.2 months supply. The Mortgage Bankers Assn told us that new applications tumbled by 9.8% last week with refi apps down by 12% and purchase apps slipping by 3%. We’ll elaborate on all the salient data that is moving the markets in today’s daily newsletter.

The delivery rate (DR-the basis for most fixed rate home loans) opened the trading session at 3.17% this morning. That is down 5 BP relative to this time yesterday. Has the rate wave crested? What is really driving the mortgage-backed securities market, which is what drives the DR (and home loan rates), and where are they likely to head from here? You can either read about it this morning in our Daily Edition of Economic Insights 2013, or wait until after the fact to find out, so… Stay tuned.

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Mortgage Bankers Association weekly new home loan
applications indices for the week ending 5/17/13

-Overall Index ~575.2: Down 9.8% versus W/E 5/10 &
Down 3.46% versus the same week a year ago.
-Purchase index: Down "about" 3% versus prior week.
-Refinance index :Down "about" 12% versus prior week.
(release date Wed. 5-22-13)

We must say "about" because the Mortgage Bankers Assn has chosen to shield the actual numbers from everyone for some obscure and likely ridiculous reason. They began to obfuscate the hard data for Purchase and Refinance activity beginning in May 2012.

LATEST PRE-OWNED HOME SALES:

April’s Annualized Sales Pace 4.92 million homes sold (Up 0.6% from Mar 4.94 MM pace & Up 9.7% versus Mar 2012 pace of 4.53 MM)

NE Region 640,000 unit pace (Up 1.6% from Mar's 630,000 pace & Up 4.9% from April 2012’s pace)

Midwest Region 1.12 MM unit pace (Down 3.4% from Mar's 1.16 MM & Up 9.8% from April 2012’s pace)

South Region 2.01 MM unit pace (Up 2.0% from Mar's 1.97 MM & Up 14.9% from April 2012’s pace)

West Region 1.20 MM unit pace (Up 1.7% from Mar's pace of 1.18 MM & Up 4.3% from April 2012’s pace)

LATEST NEW HOME SALES:

March’s Annualized Sales Pace 417,000 homes in contract (not closed) (Up 1.5% from Feb revised 411,000 pace & Up 18.5% from March 2012’s 366,000 pace)

NE Region 41,000 unit pace (Up 20.6% from Feb 34,000 pace & Up 32.3% from March 2012’s pace)

Midwest Region 51,000 unit pace (Down 12.1% from Feb 51,000 & Up 21.4% from March 2012’s pace)

South Region 215,000 unit pace (Up 19.4% from Feb 206,000 & Up 8.0% from March 2012’s pace)

West Region 110,000 unit pace (Down 20.9% from Feb 86,000 & Up 37.5% from March 2012’s pace)

(release date 4-23-13)

LATEST NEW HOUSING STARTS

April’s Annualized Starts: 853,000 units
(Down 16.5% from the revised 1,021,000 for March
and Up 13.1% from the 610,000 for April 2012)
Release date 5/16/13

NEW BUILDING PERMITS for April were 1,017,000

Up 14.3% from the revised 890,000 for March
and Up 35.8% from the 749,000 for April 2012
Release date 5/16/13

NAHB HOME BUILDERS' INDEX:

May 2013 Overall index = 44 (Up from 41 in Apr)
- Present Sales = 48 (Up from 44 in Apr)
- Plans to Buy in 6 Mos = 53 (Up from 52 in Apr)
- Buyer Traffic = 33 (Up from 30 in Apr)
Release date 5/15/13

Home Loan Interest Rates WEEKLY CLOSING LEVEL:
(as defined by the Fannie Mae & /or Freddie Mac delivery rates.)