Home buyers will have the chance to lock in low interest rates just ahead of the most popular season to purchase a house.
Markets still expect the Federal Reserve to move forward with an interest-rate hike later this month. On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell signaled he will support a 25 basis point rate hike — the first in a series of hikes this year. He noted that the Ukraine crisis was adding to inflationary pressure, despite the market volatility.
— Freddie Mac chief economist Sam Khater How mortgage rates respond is not certain. The Federal Reserve controls short-term interest rates, whereas mortgage rates typically track the direction of long-term bond yields, including the 10-year Treasury. Assumptions about the Fed’s interest-rate policy can be baked into the movements of Treasuries and mortgage rates, but other factors also weigh on them.