Aundrelyn Knott - Real Estate Expert

The Fed moved up the federal funds rate yesterday but the interest rates on mortgages came down. Why?

Yesterday's Rate Movement Explained

In spite of the nightmarish potential from yesterday’s Fed Meeting, the announcement turned out to be a dream come true! Equating to a 0.50%-0.75% improvement in afternoon mortgage pricing.

The bottom line is the Fed wasn't expecting the same increase in the pace of rate hikes that bond traders had begun to price in over the past few weeks (which was likely exacerbated by traders looking to make a buck betting against bonds).

In other words, we knew the hike would happen, but we didn't know what the Fed was thinking about the pace of additional rate hikes. Now we do, and it's slower than traders expected.

This facilitated an immediate rally for bond markets following the Fed announcement. Markets held back just a bit as Yellen's press conference was yet to come. But as Yellen spoke, it became increasingly clear that she wasn't interested in pushing back on the market reaction.

When asked why she thought the Fed and markets were so far from being on the same page heading into March, she essentially said that markets got the wrong impression from a December 2015 hike that seemed to be perennially delayed, followed by a 12-month wait for the next hike. The Fed needed to give markets a wake-up call to get them onboard with a March hike and a faster rate hike timeline overall, but that didn't mean the timeline had accelerated too terribly much from the last round of Fed forecasts.

Now we see that, and we're pleased with the reaction. 10-yr yields fell abruptly, ending the day more than 10bps lower at 2.50%.

What does this mean for you? If you are currently looking at a mortgage or have a mortgage the rate improvement will help you meet the goals of buying a home or possibly refinancing one you already have. The question is how long will this positive movement continue in the market? If I had a definitive answer to that I would be working on Wall Street, however the one thing everyone can agree on is the market is volatile so take advantage of these rates while we have them.

Courtesy of James Bailey

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