evan@evanhitch.com

The use of down payment assistance has risen sharply over the past year and a half, especially among FHA borrowers. Participation has jumped from 7.5 percent at the start of 2025 to over 21 percent recently, near the highest levels in years, as high home prices and borrowing costs push more buyers to seek help. […]

Bonds were almost perfectly flat during the overnight session along with oil and stock futures. Morning trading ushered in more volatility as the war-related headlines began to heat up. The most significant developments involve reports of a new peace proposal from Iran–one that potentially offers more concessions on nuclear aspirations. News is thin so far,

Bonds Recover With Oil, But Not Completely Ever since bottoming out together on the morning of April 17th, bond yields and oil prices have been moving higher together.  The early overnight trading hours may have witnessed a bit of a “blow-off top” (fancy words that basically mean markets reversed course simply because they’d gone too

Mortgage rates spiked on Wednesday (yesterday) after reports suggested a prolonged blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. As has been the case for most of the past 2 months, interest rate movement was clearly correlated with oil prices. Now today, both are moving back in the other direction though not for reasons that are as

Residential construction activity moved in opposite directions in March, as housing starts posted a strong rebound while building permits fell sharply from the previous month’s elevated pace. The latest Census Bureau report suggests builders accelerated new projects even as future pipeline activity softened. Privately owned housing starts rose 10.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate

Mortgage applications eased modestly last week, giving back a small portion of the prior week’s sharp gains as rates moved slightly higher. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported a 1.6% decrease on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending April 24. The pullback was driven by softer refinance demand, while purchase activity continued to

Home price appreciation remained subdued in early 2026, according to the latest data from both FHFA and S&P Cotality Case-Shiller. The two reports show prices still edging higher nationally, but with momentum slowing further as affordability constraints and elevated mortgage rates continue to weigh on the market. FHFA’s seasonally adjusted House Price Index was unchanged

As an industry, we tend to care about interest rates, especially mortgage rates. (A recent STRATMOR piece is titled, “Mortgage Rates Are Not Random.”) But there is a group of people much less sensitive to rates and represent competition to lenders. All-cash home purchases have remained structurally elevated since early 2023, averaging 28 percent of

From an analytical standpoint, it’s hard to offer new and interesting insights when the order of any given day is simply to observe broad war-related sentiment via oil prices.  From there, if bonds are diverging, we have a few things to discuss, but if bond yields are following, the case is closed. Today’s case is mostly