Mortgage rates hit their lowest level since late October last week, ahead of what could be the Federal Reserve’s swan song for interest rate cuts. At its final policy meeting of the year on Dec. 17-18, the Fed is expected to cut its benchmark interest rate by 0.25%, its third reduction in 2024. However, prospective homebuyers shouldn’t expect mortgage rates to drop suddenly by the same amount. Though mortgage rates are influenced by the Fed’s actions, they more closely follow movement in the bond market. “Mortgage rates are often volatile,” said Jacob Channel, senior economist at LendingTree. “We’ll need more time before we can determine whether or not recent declines in mortgage rates are indicative of a longer-term trend or if they’re a flash in the pan,” Channel said.
Lately, expectations have dimmed for aggressive rate reductions next year given uncertainty over whether President-elect Donald Trump’s tax and tariff proposals will reignite inflation or throw the economy off balance. Depending on how the economy fares in the early days of the new administration, the Fed could hold off on additional cuts until March or later, Channel told CNET. While nothing is set in stone, experts say Wednesday’s cut could be the last one for a while. Mortgage rates could still fall in 2025 if economic data weakens and the Fed continues cutting interest rates. But from where things stand now, that’s a pretty big “if.”
The central bank has two main objectives: maintain maximum employment and contain inflation. It relies on inflation and labor data, which act as a barometer for the health of the economy, when deciding whether to adjust its benchmark short-term interest rate up or down. When inflation was at its peak in 2022, the Fed raised interest rates to lower demand and limit price growth, and mortgage rates surged in response. The Fed pivoted to cutting interest rates earlier this fall, as data pointed to cooling inflation and a slower job market. Recent inflation data, which show prices rising 2.7% annually in November, is not so strong as to discourage the Fed from cutting interest rates this week. But it does raise alarms that progress has stalled, if not halted altogether, on getting inflation down to the Fed’s 2% annual target.
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