{"id":29579,"date":"2025-09-18T20:58:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T20:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/29579\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T20:58:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T20:58:14","slug":"mortgage-rates-havent-been-this-low-in-nearly-a-year-thank-the-fed-but-not-entirely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/29579\/","title":{"rendered":"Mortgage rates haven\u2019t been this low in nearly a year. Thank the Fed \u2014 but not entirely"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n The Federal Reserve\u2019s rate cut this week<\/a> is rippling through the housing market, sending mortgage rates lower and spurring a jump in refinancing.\n <\/p>\n

\n The 30-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 6.26% for the week ending September 18, down from 6.35% last week, according to data released Thursday by Freddie Mac.\n <\/p>\n

\n This is the fourth-straight week of declines as mortgage rates fell in anticipation of the Fed\u2019s quarter-point rate cut<\/a> on Wednesday.\n <\/p>\n

\n A growing number of homeowners who locked in mortgages at higher rates over the past few years are jumping in to take advantage of savings.\n <\/p>\n

\n Refinance application volume jumped nearly 60% last week, compared to the week before, according to a separate report from the Mortgage Bankers Association.\n <\/p>\n

\n Although the Fed has signaled that more rate cuts will come, it is unclear whether mortgage rates will continue dropping on a steady path. Mortgage rates don\u2019t directly track the Fed\u2019s moves. Instead, they follow the 10-year Treasury yield, which measures investor expectations for future inflation and economic growth.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Fed is currently battling both stubborn inflation<\/a> and a weakening labor market, making its future monetary policy moves murky.\n <\/p>\n

\n The 10-year has reflected that uncertainty, briefly dropping lower after the Fed announced a rate cut on Wednesday, only to climb even higher in the hours afterward. Those volatile moves may directly impact mortgage rates.\n <\/p>\n

\n Some mortgage lenders warn that borrowing costs may not fall much further.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cMortgage rates are forward-looking, and by the time the Fed announces a cut, markets have usually already priced it in,\u201d said Bill Banfield, Rocket Mortgage\u2019s chief business officer. \u201cRates may stay relatively flat in the short term since markets had already priced in this cut.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Still, more buyers are turning to adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs), betting that rates will decline further in the coming years. The share of borrowers choosing ARMs has climbed to its highest level since 2008, according to the MBA report.\n <\/p>\n

\n Unlike fixed-rate loans, ARMs can provide temporary relief by offering lower initial rates. But they carry risk: after the introductory period \u2014 typically five, seven, or ten years \u2014 the rate resets and adjusts with the market. If rates rise in the future, borrowers could see their monthly payments climb as well.\n <\/p>\n

\n Orphe Divounguy, a senior economist with Zillow\u2019s Economic Research team, said a weakening economic outlook may tamp down demand for housing, even as mortgage rates fall to their lowest levels in nearly a year.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIn times of economic uncertainty, residential mobility stalls; buyers, sellers and renters stay put,\u201d he said. \u201cHeading into the slower season of the housing cycle \u2014 when school, holidays and cooler weather dampen housing activity \u2014 the impact of any small changes to mortgage rates up or down is likely to be muted.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n At his press conference on Wednesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said some of the housing market\u2019s affordability issues may be too big for the central bank to tackle, given its limited mandate. Powell highlighted the steep shortage of homes for sale, which has driven home prices higher.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThere\u2019s a deeper problem here; that\u2019s not a cyclical problem that the Fed can address, and that is just a pretty much nationwide housing shortage,\u201d Powell said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cA lot of places in the country just don\u2019t have enough housing for people,\u201d he added.\n <\/p>\n

\n This story has been updated with additional developments.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Facebook Tweet Email Link The Federal Reserve\u2019s rate cut this week is rippling through the housing market, sending…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[72,61,60,123],"class_list":{"0":"post-29579","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-markets","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-markets"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}