Active listings reached 1.4 million homes, a 4.3% increase year over year, while sales fell 1.2%, which came in better than expectations, Homes.com said.

Mortgage applications rose 3.8% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week prior for the period ending June 12, according to the MBA’s Market Composite Index.

The clarification spells out what banks can share to stop scams. The Bank Policy Institute welcomed it but wants Congress to write the protection into law.

The decline in non-owner occupied acquisitions came as sales fell overall due to high mortgage rates and bad winter weather in the Northeast, BatchData said.

The Fathom Holdings purchase bolsters the retail platform’s ambitions to become a one-stop shop for all homeownership needs, Bed Bath & Beyond’s CEO said.

Bonds Tell Warsh What They Think of His Changes

Ironically, one of Warsh’s comments in today’s press conference was that market movement is the most important source of information for the Fed. At the same time, the market was effectively saying that it was also fond of hearing what was on the Fed’s mind, and if the Fed is going to stop sharing those thoughts, the market was going to cry about it. This certainly wasn’t the whole story as the hawkish dot plot did about half the damage well before the press conference. One could also argue that some traders may have expected Warsh to do something to push back against that Hawkishness. Instead, he did very little apart from reference various task forces that would be working on several projects. In general, the lack of transparency and the absence of even a semblance of forward guidance led the market to rapidly price in a higher risk premium in both stocks and bonds. Bottom line, markets said “if you aren’t going to do anything to push back on that hawkish dot plot, we’re gonna go ahead and assume rate hikes are more likely.” 

Econ Data / Events

Retail Sales (May)

0.9% vs 0.5% f’cast, 0.5% prev

Retail Sales Control Group MoM (May)

0.7% vs 0.4% f’cast, 0.5% prev

Market Movement Recap

08:33 AM Flat overnight and no reaction to data. MBS unchanged and 10yr unchanged at 4.44.

11:30 AM MBS up 1 tick (.03) and 10yr down 1bp at 4.431

02:17 PM MBS down an eighth and 10yr up 1.2bps at 4.455

03:10 PM MBS down 10 ticks (.31) and 10yr up 3.2bps at 4.473

Mortgage rates quickly erased a week of progress this afternoon following the Fed announcement and press conference. Fed announcement day historically has several components: the announcement itself, the summary of economic projections (SEP), and the press conference.  Within the SEP, there is the dot plot showing each Fed member’s assumptions about where the Fed Funds Rate will be in the future if the economy continues on the expected course. “The dots” only come out every other Fed meeting, but they have a habit of causing volatile market reactions. Today’s was no exception. The dots essentially show that the average Fed member now sees the Fed Funds rate at least 0.25% higher at the end of 2026 than they did back in March. This is responsible for the first big move in the bond market today. Bonds lost more ground during new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s press conference. The reasons for this could be debated. Some traders may have been expecting Warsh to push back against the dot plot with a more rate-friendly tone. Others may have been disheartened at the lack of any guidance about how the Fed is interpreting incoming economic data. In general, lower transparency regarding the Fed’s reaction function arguably requires traders to price in a higher risk premium. Because rates are based on bonds, and because bonds lost ground sharply, mortgage lenders ended up raising rates in the afternoon–some of them up to 3 times. When the dust settled, the average lender was back up to June 10th levels with top-tier 30yr fixed rates at 6.62%.

The deal brings the largest housing legislation in a generation one step closer to becoming law – and handing both parties and President Donald Trump a messaging win on affordability five months before a midterm election expected to center on cost-of-living concerns.

Newly minted Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh will host his inaugural press conference on Wednesday. Bankers will be paying close attention to what he says — and how he says it.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s annual report to Congress asks for enforcement and referral powers beyond the limited ones it currently has.