Mortgage rate volatility: Tips for lenders

Short-term market swings are nothing new but the kind of volatility mortgage lenders are dealing with today is driven less by predictable economic indicators and more by geopolitical tensions, trade policy shifts, and global headlines.

While volatility has ticked up, it’s not at historic extremes. The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures stress in financial markets, is considered high when it’s above 20, and it’s averaged around 27.5 recently. That’s worse than the dotcom bust’s 25.6, but less than the pandemic’s 29.3 or the Great Financial Crisis’ 32.7, according to a recent Richardson Wealth’s report on the U.S. VIX.

With this in mind, we asked mortgage professionals who’ve been through cycles how to survive — and potentially even thrive — when managing different types of