BLUELINE Blog

Mortgage Volumes Still Strong Despite Economic Uncertainty

23 April, 2020 / by Michael Clark, Ph.D.

Published April 23, 2020

During these unprecedented times, we are all trying to stay safe and healthy. Among other measures, this means a lot of social distancing and time spent in your current place of residence. The purchase market is slowing as both supply and demand are [...]

Downside Risks in the Mortgage Market

07 April, 2020 / by Michael Clark, Ph.D.

Published April 7, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic is not a housing crisis in its nature, but there are several places throughout the industry where the pandemic or policy response to it has hit at some vulnerabilities in the market. For the most part, these vulnerabilities tend to [...]

The CARES Act and its Impact on the Economy and the Mortgage Market

03 April, 2020 / by Michael Clark, Ph.D.

Published April 3, 2020

There are two primary concerns for the mortgage industry in regard to the pandemic: one is the secondary market losing liquidity and the primary market drying up; the other is the possibility that the pandemic will cause a wave of unemployment and lack of [...]

Recent Actions Taken in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

25 March, 2020 / by Michael Clark, Ph.D.

The Federal Reserve (FED) has had a busy past few weeks. Since lowering the Fed Funds Rate1 and announcing their first Quantitative Easing (QE)2 actions of this crisis, they have taken several other actions to maintain liquidity and confidence in the economy. Many of these [...]

Emergency Actions in Response to COVID-19 & the Implications of the Policy Actions

19 March, 2020 / by Michael Clark, Ph.D.

In response to the COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) pandemic, global economic conditions, and the economic uncertainty that social isolation protocols have induced, the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) just made its second emergency rate cut over the past two [...]

Market Commentary: Economic Outlook & the Impact of Global Politics

20 February, 2020 / by Tyler Wilson

The Federal Reserve has made clear after its last meeting of 2019 that it will be in a holding period for most of 2020 as it assesses the impact of their policy moves on the economy. They will likely use this time to debate how best to respond to the next economic downturn and [...]