It was an ugly headline, even by the standards of the mortgage crisis:

• “US foreclosure filings surge 53 percent in June“

Looking a little closer though, it turns out the numbers aren’t nearly as bad as that Associated Press headline would suggest. Another example of the media piling on with a negative spin was a story suggesting that loan modification programs were simply extending mortgage pain.

Meanwhile, there were two positive signs for the mortgage market:

• Mortgage application activity rose for the second consecutive week
• Mortgage rates eased a bit in early July, after rising significantly in June

In large part, the conclusion drawn from the above depends on whether one is taking a forward-looking or backward-looking view of the market.

Read the rest of this entry »