What We're Hearing

With the abysmal jobs number for October finally unveiled, there is some good news for mortgage bankers: the Federal Reserve isn't likely to raise short term rates any time soon. Moreover, some analysts are saying it won't be until 2011, maybe 2012 before we see a rate hike on the short end. This also means that mortgage origination profit margins should remain strong for at least the next year. Servicing revenues, though, could come under pressure as refinancings continue to cause a runoff in receivables and delinquencies gallop along. Of course, if the jobs situation improves rapidly by midyear (which some Pollyanna analysts think) then all bets are off. In other words: it's all a crap shoot. Meanwhile, the new employment figures offered no relief for the mortgage brokerage sector. Broker-related employment fell to 66,900 positions, a 1,100 loss from the previous month. For the full story see National Mortgage News Online later today...