• The May Handoff

    The May Handoff

    The mortgage market is heading into one of the more consequential weeks of the year, and the rate decision is the least interesting thing on the calendar. The FOMC meets Tuesday and Wednesday and will hold. The funds rate stays at 3.50% to 3.75%, where it has been since December 2025. That outcome has been…

  • The Relief That Isn’t

    The Relief That Isn’t

    The Strait of Hormuz is open again, at least on paper. Iran’s foreign minister declared all commercial shipping lanes completely open on April 17, and oil markets responded immediately, with WTI crude falling roughly 12% on the session. Treasury yields eased, and mortgage rates, already at their lowest level in a month at 6.30%, have…

  • The Rate Move You’re Seeing Is Bigger Than the Treasury Move

    The Rate Move You’re Seeing Is Bigger Than the Treasury Move

    Mortgage rates have climbed to their highest levels since last July. The 30-year fixed is sitting at 6.64% as of March 27, up from roughly 6.22% just two weeks prior. The 10-year Treasury yield closed that same Friday at 4.44%, its highest print since summer 2025. Most of what you see will tell you mortgage…

  • A Synchronized Selloff

    A Synchronized Selloff

    The Fed’s BindAt its March 18 meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee voted 11-1 to hold the federal funds rate at 3.5% to 3.75%, the second consecutive hold after three quarter-point cuts to close out 2025. The decision itself was never in question. What mattered was the language around it and what the updated Summary…

  • The Oil Shock Threatening the Spring Rate Rally

    The Oil Shock Threatening the Spring Rate Rally

    The mortgage market entered March with something it hadn’t seen in years: momentum. Rates had briefly touched 5.98% on February 26, the first sub-6% print since 2022. Purchase applications were running 12% above the prior year. The spring buying season was shaping up to matter. Then the bombs started falling, and the data that was…