What’s the Fed expected to announce today?

What is the market predicting the Fed to do this week?

The Federal Reserve board met yesterday and today with a press conference scheduled for this afternoon with Chairman Jerome Powell. It’s widely expected that the Fed is going to hold interest rates at their current levels.

In this case, the messaging from Chairman Powell is what everyone will pay attention to. Powell needs to set expectations for when he expects to be able to start cutting interest rates. It’s currently expected that the Fed will hold steady for most of the year, and the mantra of ‘Higher for Longer’ has become more of a reality than market experts expected.

If Powell indicates that he sees positive signs in the data and could see cuts happening late in 2024 or early 2025, the market may react positively. However, if he comes across as too hawkish and sees inflation as stickier than expected, the market may react the other way.

Everyone knows what the action will from the Fed will look like this month, but how the message is delivered will give the market guidance one way or the other.

What are experts predicting for mortgage rates this year?

While we wait to hear what the Fed has to say, Business Insider reviewed several recent predictions to understand which direction they see mortgage rates going in the next seven months.

The Mortgage Bankers Association and Fannie Mae have both predicted that mortgage rates will cool off by the end of the year. Both have the national average for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage rate at 6.4% by the end of the year.

The National Association of Realtors is slightly more pessimistic in its prediction for the rest of 2024, but even they have the national average for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage rate at 6.5% by the end of the year.

Which markets in Ohio are showing strength?

Realtor.com recently released its list of the top housing markets for the spring. According to their data, three of the top eight markets in the country were in Ohio.

The Canton, OH metro area came in second overall. Akron, OH was fourth, and Columbus, OH was eighth in the most recent rankings. Two other Ohio cities, Dayton and Toledo, were in the top 20.

All five Ohio cities listed have median prices well below the national median of $425,000. The Realtor.com list takes several factors into account beyond price. Housing demand, economic health, and quality of life were all factors in which the top Ohio metro areas scored well. However, this round of hot markets also factored in ‘Climate Resilience’ for the first time ever.