Vice Capital Markets, a mortgage hedge advisory firm for independent lenders, banks and credit unions, announced the public release of the Vice Capital Par Note Rate, a proprietary daily mortgage rate benchmark designed to provide a market-based view of mortgage pricing. Available via an online tracker, the benchmark provides lenders, analysts and other market participants with daily data, long-term trend analysis and custom charting dating back to 2008.
Calculated daily using Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed security prices across the coupon stack, plus standard base guaranty fees and servicing, the Vice Capital Par Note Rate reflects the note rate at which a 30-year, fixed-rate loan could be sold at par into the agency market while retaining servicing. The benchmark is intended to complement other mortgage rate measures by offering an additional perspective grounded in secondary market pricing rather than borrower-specific transaction characteristics, such as discount points, lender credits and loan-level pricing adjustments.
“Mortgage rate metrics can serve different purposes depending on what users are trying to measure,” Chris Bennett, chairman at Vice Capital Markets, said in a release. “Many widely followed figures provide valuable insight into borrower activity and market sentiment. The Vice Capital Par Note Rate is designed to complement those views by offering a consistent, market-based benchmark for analyzing mortgage rate movement over time.”
While Vice Capital Markets has used the par note rate internally in its modeling for decades, the company is now making the data publicly available to support more informed market analysis across the mortgage industry. Through the tracker, users can review daily weighted averages, analyze long-term trends and create custom charts across historical time periods.
“By making this data publicly available, we’re giving the industry another lens through which to evaluate mortgage rate movement,” Troy Baars, president at Vice Capital Markets, said. “We believe the Vice Capital Par Note Rate will serve as a valuable benchmark for lenders, analysts and other market participants seeking deeper insight into market trends over time.”