Last Week's Mortgage Rate Recap: Rates slightly better 👍
Mortgage rates last week had less of a response than usual to the Fed meeting, where the Fed left its policy rate unchanged but signaled it is less likely to cut multiple times in 2025. Rates did slowly creep lower though to end the week better.
This Week's Mortgage Rate Forecast: Rates could continue to improve 👍
This week, mortgage rates will react to global events including the conflict with Iran, and could continue to build on recent momentum and improve further. It is unlikely rates will move significantly lower this week, but we could still see better rebate pricing (the credit received from a lender towards closing costs).
What's affecting rates this week:
- Middle East conflict: Although the U.S. military action in Iran this past weekend didn't cause traders to make large scale moves to the safety of bonds (which would help improve mortgage rates), bonds have still improved from last week, helping rates.
- Inflation: The Fed's favored gauge of inflation, the PCE index, comes out on Friday. If this reading shows more signs of cooling inflation, it is good for mortgage rates.
- Fed speakers: Any signals of future rate cuts from Fed members out speaking this week will benefit rates.