The Federal Reserve hikes interest rates again
Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell announced 50bps interest rate hike as part of the Fed’s continued battle against inflation. Additionally, Chairman Powell offered guidance on interest rates in 2023. The current projections for the next year currently have no rate cuts planned.
Chairman Powell said the following, “Historical experience cautions strongly against prematurely loosening policy. I wouldn’t see us considering rate cuts until the committee is confident that inflation is moving down to 2% in a sustained way.”
How did mortgage rates react to the Federal Reserve announcement?
Mortgage rates ticked slightly higher after the announcement, but settled the day near the recent lows. The national average for a 30-year, fixed rate mortgage ended Wednesday’s session at 6.27%, down 0.01% from the previous day.
The market had just made a large move downward on Tuesday off the CPI inflation data, and everyone was expecting a rate hike of 50bps. It’s not a huge shock that there wasn’t much movement in the mortgage rate market.
Which region of the US is the most affordable for housing?
Yahoo Finance connected with Zillow’ senior economist, Jeff Tucker, and asked which markets he saw as the most affordable for home buyers. Tucker stated, “So we looked around the country and where is the last kind of regional bastion of affordability? It’s the Midwest. These are places where middle-class families’ income is still enough to qualify to buy a nice family sized home.”
Tucker further highlighted how affordability is going to be key to the housing market in 2023, and areas of the Midwest are where some of the best opportunities are right now.
Home buyers can also save on a home by taking advantage of Guaranteed Rate’s Rate Reduce program. Learn more about how you can reduce your mortgage rate for the first few years and lock in your rate today!
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