Fed Meeting March 2019: Heading into the two-day meeting mortgage rates are at their 2019 lows. While the Fed does not set mortgage rates they do have an influence over the market that does set mortgage rates. The Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) market is near it’s one year high which is good for mortgage rates (higher MBS prices equal lower … Read more
Possible Deal To Avoid Government Shutdown: Last night it was announced that Republican and Democrat leaders in the Senate and the House agreed to a bi-partisan deal to keep the government open. Without a deal in place by Friday midnight the federal government will shutdown for the second time in 2019. The biggest sticking point has always been about building … Read more
What The Fed Had To Say: The Fed did not hike (as expected) and expressed some concerns about the economy. They announced a “measured” approach to future rate hikes and a continuation of the unwinding of their balance sheet. They also dropped some of the previous language about the health of the economy which was a surprise. For more on … Read more
The Fed Meeting And Mortgage Rates: Today was the start of the two-day FOMC meeting (Federal Open Market Committee; aka “the Fed”) and all eyes are on what they’ll say post meeting. The likelihood they’ll raise their rate at this meeting is next to none as it’s fairly evident the US economy has slowed. This is what analyst and investors … Read more
Home Sales Decline: The most recent home sales report just had one of the biggest moves ever seen out side years in which the government tried to stimulate the market. In the most recent National Association of Realtors survey home sales declined a whopping 6.4%. This is a large move for an index that is used to significantly less movements. … Read more
Mortgage Rate Forecast For February 2019: As we move closer to the end of January it’s time to start looking at February and what might happen with mortgage rates. As I’ve stated before; predicting mortgage rates is a difficult thing (at best) which means it’s important to evaluate the three main possibilities in terms of which direction mortgage rates can … Read more
Fed President Williams: In a speech on Friday New York Federal Reserve President John Williams said the Federal Reserve should be essentially be cautious moving forward. However he does believe the economy is “strong” and will grow between 2.00% – 2.50% this year. His speech is an important one because Mr. Williams is a voting member of the policymaking Federal … Read more