Mortgage Rates Fall After Fed Commits to Buy Mortgage-Backed Securities

Mortgage rates fell after wild fluctuations over the last seven days, thanks in large part to the Federal Reserve reinforcing their commitment to purchase large amounts of mortgage-backed securities.

Just last week, mortgage rates appeared to be trending upward, rising quickly from all-time lows to their highest level in just under a month. This increase followed the market’s positive response to the better-than-expected May jobs data – but all that changed in the last few days. Some of this recent market optimism appeared to taper on Monday as markets considered the lasting ability of their recent rally. The big downward move in rates came on Wednesday as the Federal Reserve said they will keep overnight interest rates at zero through 2021 and, more importantly for mortgage rates, intend to maintain their recent pace of mortgage-backed security and Treasury purchases, putting an end to weekly reductions of this activity. The announcement instantly increased demand for mortgage debt and pushed rates back down to long-term lows.

With no end in sight for this Fed policy, it’s likely that mortgage rates are poised to remain low for a while.