The pace of contract signings surged at its fastest in three years in a break from the more stagnant conditions of past home buying seasons, Realtor.com said.

VantageScore 4.0 has been incorporated into the existing processes at Rocket for both the retail and mortgage broker-facing origination businesses.

Copper Ridge Ventures has joint venture businesses with mortgage loan officers and real estate professionals using the same broker model as NEXA Lending.

Starts of single-family homes declined 9%, the most since August, according to government figures released Thursday.

With the 10-year Treasury yield at levels not seen in 52 weeks, the 30-year fixed rate mortgage rose 15 basis points over last Thursday, Freddie Mac said.

Peace Deal Rumors Make For Mid-Day Reversal

Bonds started the day in fairly forgettable and slightly weaker fashion after overnight headlines suggested that the disposition of Iran’s nuclear material remains a sticking point. Bonds were flat at weaker levels all morning. Then, just after 1pm, a different headline suggested a “draft agreement” was expected to be announced in a matter of hours. It listed several bullet points, but ironically, nuclear material was not on the list. Nonetheless, the bond market rallied into positive territory rather easily. As much of a head-scratcher as that is (why get excited if the nuclear sticking point remains?), there’s no question about the reaction function with oil prices perfectly matching the bond yield move.

Econ Data / Events

Building Permits (Apr)

1.442M vs 1.39M f’cast, 1.363M prev

Continued Claims (May)/09

1,782K vs 1790K f’cast, 1782K prev

Housing starts number mm (Apr)

1.465M vs 1.41M f’cast, 1.502M prev

Jobless Claims (May)/16

209K vs 210K f’cast, 211K prev

Philly Fed Business Index (May)

-0.4 vs 18 f’cast, 26.7 prev

Philly Fed Prices Paid (May)

47.90 vs — f’cast, 59.30 prev

Market Movement Recap

08:31 AM Weaker overnight as Iran says it’s keeping nuclear material. MBS down a quarter point and 10yr up 3.2bps at 4.62

12:26 PM Fairly flat at modestly weaker levels. MBS down 3 ticks (.09) and 10yr up 1bp at 4.598

01:17 PM Rallying on Iran peace agreement rumors. MBS up 3 ticks (.09) and 10yr down 1.4bps at 4.575

02:29 PM Rally continues on peace deal news. MBS up more than a quarter point and 10yr down 3.2bps at 4.556

02:59 PM most recent newswires pushing back on previous, optimistic news. 10yr back near unchanged levels at 4.585 and MBS up an eighth (after being up more than a quarter point a short while ago. 

Delinquencies among recent FHA originations are showing up alongside a notable volume of subordinate liens carried by the borrowers.

The House passed housing legislation that includes a slightly pared-down institutional investor housing ban, as well as a raft of community bank measures.

The real estate investment trust, while reporting a first quarter net loss, benefitted from growth and stable margins in its three mortgage production units.

The share of sellers dropping their asking price fell in April as buyer demand picked up, though Sun Belt markets — especially in Texas — still saw widespread price cuts.