Mortgage rates

Top Fed officials are coalescing around the idea that tighter financial conditions after a recent surge in U.S. Treasury yields may substitute for additional increases in their benchmark interest rate.

Should the Federal Reserve step back into the market and restart their loan purchase activity?

While some observers believe that by year-end, the 30-year FRM would be lower than current levels, chatter about an 8% mortgage exists.

Most consumers see their experience in the housing market giving them more pressure than life events like dating or potty training.

Public policy experts debated the effect of rising rates on the mortgage market, the impact on homebuyers and ways that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could exit conservatorship at the National Mortgage News Digital Mortgage Conference.

Even as Freddie Mac's survey put rates at their highest since December 2000, factors like rising oil prices and a government shutdown could slow the economy.

The month-to-month decline was larger than all estimates received by Bloomberg in a survey of economists.

The rise in rates — 10-year Treasury yields are up over a percentage point since mid-May — is one of a series of shocks buffeting what's been a surprisingly resilient economy.

The triple threat of tight supply, elevated prices and historically high mortgage rates continues to weigh on sales, even as home builders are offering incentives to potential buyers.

The morning after, the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield touched a 52-week high, but Freddie Mac reported a 1 basis point jump.

Lenders are brushing up on ways to minimize losses associated with the increasing costs to fund mortgage pipelines.

The FOMC held its target range for the federal funds rate at 5.25% to 5.5%, while updated quarterly projections showed 12 of 19 officials favored another rate hike in 2023, underscoring a desire to ensure inflation continues to decelerate.

And bond market pricing has moved higher in anticipation of today's Federal Open Market Committee announcement even though most expect no increase in short-term rates.

High mortgage rates and the lack of inventory for sale pushed the sector into a downturn twice recently - between May and November last year and in May of 2023 - according to First American

Nearly 60,000 deals to purchase homes fell through in August, according to a report released Friday by Redfin Corp.

The 30-year fixed moved 6 basis points this week as investors digested the news from the Consumer Price Index report.

Spreads with the 10-year Treasury are unlikely to narrow from outsized levels even as inflation cools and Fed tightening ends, said Odeta Kushi, an FA economist.

Even though the average for the 30-year fixed loan declined for the second straight week, a buoyant economy will affect future movements, Freddie Mac said.

"There is nothing that is saying we need to do anything imminent anytime soon," the Federal Reserve governor said in an interview on CNBC Tuesday.

Talk from the Federal Reserve about potentially hiking short-term rates again impacted longer-term bond yields.