Mortgage rates dropped a little this week as bond yields have seen a significant reversal to the downside on the heels of the recent crisis for some banks. The 30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage was at 6.60% and the 15 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage was at 5.90% in Freddie Mac’s Weekly Survey released today. See current survey below with its most recent assessment of the mortgage rate landscape.
(dynamic charts with current data)
Next week’s Fed meeting could produce additional volatility in rates as the Fed decides its next moves. The Fed previously raised the Fed Funds Rate by 0.25% and said it will continue tapering its balance sheet as a major part of its quantitative tightening (QT) plan. The plan is to reduce US Treasury securities held by the Fed by $60 billion per month and mortgages held by the Fed by $35 billion per month. In 2022 they did not stick to the stated Fed tapering plan and have started off 2023 not even close to the targeted mortgage security reductions in the plan. The plan had the balance sheet below $8.4 trillion at the end of 2022 and below $7.3 trillion at the end of 2023. Fed assets soared this week causing much uncertainty about how the latest efforts to bail-out the banking system will impact its already weak QT implementation, as well as what will be the longer term effect on inflation and interest rates.
(dynamic charts with current data)
