Helping Washington State homeowners learn more about their mortgage options.
Today wrapped up the two-day FOMC meeting and Chairman Powell announced that the funds rate will be increased by a half point. As of today, the federal funds rate is 0.75-1% and is expected to another 2 percent by the end of the year.
From the FOMC statement: [Read more…]
Today mortgage rates jumped about 0.25-0.375 in interest rate or about a full point (1% of the loan amount) in fee. Mortgage rates have been trending higher since the beginning of this year. Today’s movement with mortgage rates is a pretty significant increase for one day.
The is largely due to Federal Reserve Governor Brainard stating today that they are going to start rapidly liquidating their balance sheets as well as being more aggressive with increasing the federal funds rate. Combine this with inflation and mortgage rates will continue to push higher. [Read more…]
The Fed’s announcement today to leave the funds rate unchanged was not a surprise to the markets. What did send the bond market in a tizzy this afternoon was that the Fed ever-so-slightly moved the goal posts out a bit for inflation. [Read more…]
This morning the Fed lowered the Fed Funds rate by 0.50 to 1-1.25% due to the global financial impacts of the coronavirus. The markets were anticipating the Feds to make a move and reacted favorably…however we’re still seeing plenty of volatility.
What does this mean with regards to mortgage interest rates? They are still very very LOW making this a great time to look at refinancing. [Read more…]
This morning Freddie Mac released their weekly Prime Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) showing that mortgage interest rates are continuing to trend higher. Click here for current mortgage interest rates in greater Seattle and beyond.
As expected, the Fed increased the Funds rate by 0.25% moments ago. The markets were anticipating this move by the Fed and, as I write this post, I’m not seeing any significant rate changes to mortgage interest rates. The rates were already “baked in the cake”. Had the Fed decided to increase rates beyond 0.25% or not to take action, we would potentially be being seeing a reaction with the bond market which would be reflected in mortgage interest rates. [Read more…]
In Janet Yellen’s last meeting as the Fed Chair, the FOMC has increased the Fed Funds rate by 0.25% to 1.50%. From the press release:
“Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in November indicates that the labor market has continued to strengthen and that economic activity has been rising at a solid rate. Averaging through hurricane-related fluctuations, job gains have been solid, and the unemployment rate declined further. Household spending has been expanding at a moderate rate, and growth in business fixed investment has picked up in recent quarters. On a 12-month basis, both overall inflation and inflation for items other than food and energy have declined this year and are running below 2 percent. Market-based measures of inflation compensation remain low; survey-based measures of longer-term inflation expectations are little changed, on balance.”
The Fed states it’s likely there will be additional increases to the Funds Rate next year. [Read more…]
Today the FOMC increased the Fed Funds rate by a quarter point from 1 to 1.25%. This increase to the Funds Rate was highly anticipated by the markets. As long as the economy stays on it’s current path, the Fed anticipates it will begin to gradually reduce the Federal Reserve’s securities holdings by decreasing reinvestment of principal payments from agency debt and mortgage backed securites. The Fed has been manipulating mortgage rates for a very long time. As they begin to pull out of mortgage markets, this will most likely cause mortgage rates to trend higher. [Read more…]
Rhonda Porter is a Licensed Mortgage Originator MLO121324 living in the greater Seattle area. Rhonda began her career in 1986 in the title and escrow industry and began her mortgage career in 2000. She enjoys helping people understand the mortgage process and started writing The Mortgage Porter in late 2006. Read More…
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