{"id":2006107,"date":"2023-08-20T05:09:03","date_gmt":"2023-08-20T09:09:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mortgage-rates-at-two-decade-high-could-rise-further-and-stay-there-for-months\/"},"modified":"2023-08-20T05:11:18","modified_gmt":"2023-08-20T09:11:18","slug":"mortgage-rates-at-two-decade-high-could-rise-further-and-stay-there-for-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mortgage-rates-at-two-decade-high-could-rise-further-and-stay-there-for-months\/","title":{"rendered":"Mortgage rates reach 20-year peak, may climb higher and persist for months."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmortgage-rates-at-two-decade-high-could-rise-further-and-stay-there-for-months%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2006107&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Mortgage \u2062Rates Reach 21-Year High, Homebuyers Face Uphill Battle<\/h2>\n<p>Mortgage\u200b rates have\u200d recently\u200b shattered a 21-year record, leaving those hoping for a decline in rates disappointed. According to Freddie\u2064 Mac, the average \u2063rate \u2063on a \u200d<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/middle-class-millennials-hard-hit-by-housing-market\/\" title=\"Middle Class, Millennials Hard Hit By Housing Market\">30-year fixed-rate mortgage<\/a> now stands at \u200c7.09%, more \u2062than\u2063 double the \u2063<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mortgage-rates-climb-to-highest-level-since-2002\/\" title=\"Mortgage rates reach 2002's peak.\">pre-interest rate hike average<\/a>. Unfortunately, there&#8217;s more bad news for homebuyers as rates could potentially climb even\u2062 higher.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>Expert Predicts Rates Will Continue to Rise<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Stephen \u2062O&#8217;Connor, a research\u200d professor of real\u2063 estate at the George Washington University School \u200cof Business, believes that we haven&#8217;t reached the peak yet. In an \u200binterview\u2063 with the \u2064Washington Examiner, he stated, &#8220;I don&#8217;t \u2064think we&#8217;re at the peak.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The surge in rates has made homeownership unattainable for many households. In\u200d 2020, the median \u200bmortgage payment was just\u200c over $1,000\u200d per \u2062month.\u200d Fast forward to\u2062 today, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mortgage-rates-at-two-decade-high-could-rise-further-and-stay-there-for-months\/\" title=\"Mortgage rates reach 20-year peak, may climb higher and persist for months.\">typical single-family home<\/a> now requires a staggering\u200c $2,234 per month, marking a shocking 116% increase in just three years.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Fed&#8217;s Influence on Mortgage Rates<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While the Federal Reserve doesn&#8217;t\u200c directly control mortgage rates, its changes to \u200bshort-term rates\u200b do impact longer-term securities. \u200bAs the Fed raises \u2064interest rates, mortgage \u2063rates tend to follow suit.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>Uncertainty Surrounding Future Rate Hikes<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Many investors anticipate that the Fed will pause its\u2064 rate hikes\u200c at the upcoming \u200cSeptember\u200c meeting.\u2062 However, O&#8217;Connor disagrees, predicting\u2062 another rate increase next month. He \u200dbelieves that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell remains focused on combating inflation, despite positive economic indicators in \u2064other areas.<\/p>\n<p>O&#8217;Connor explained, &#8220;Are \u200cthey done raising those rates? I\u200c don&#8217;t think so. I think Powell is still very much\u200b concerned\u200d with core inflation&#8230; there are other types of markers in the ether\u200c there\u200c that are raising concerns relative to wage \u200dinflation, things of that nature.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Inflation\u200d and Economic\u2064 Factors at \u200cPlay<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Consumer price index inflation currently stands at 3.2%, higher than the \u2064Fed&#8217;s 2% target. However,\u2064 &#8220;core inflation,&#8221; which excludes volatile food and energy prices, has\u200d risen to 4.7% in the year ending in July.<\/p>\n<p>O&#8217;Connor highlighted\u200d several sources of \u200duncertainty that could influence the Fed&#8217;s decision-making. Mixed signals \u200cfrom economic gauges, along \u2063with unknown factors like \u2063the slowdown in\u200d China and the war in Ukraine, add complexity to the \u200dsituation.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>Unpredictability of \u2064Mortgage Rates<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Jeff Ostrowski, an\u200b analyst at Bankrate, emphasized the difficulty in predicting mortgage rates\u2062 in recent years. Economists\u2063 did not \u200danticipate rates\u2064 dropping below 3% or rising as rapidly as they have.<\/p>\n<p>Ostrowski explained, &#8220;It made sense \u2064that\u200c <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/four-reasons-lumber-prices-are-skyrocketing\/\" title=\"Four Reasons Lumber Prices Are \u2018Skyrocketing\u2019\">mortgage rates fell<\/a> when the Fed cut interest rates to zero and it \u2063made sense that they were \u200cgoing to rise\u200c when the \u200cFed started \u200btightening, but \u200dit&#8217;s&#8230; the intensity and the\u2063 speed of the increase has really caught everyone by surprise.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He also noted that \u200cthe 10-year Treasury yield closely mirrors \u2062mortgage rates. Over the past year, mortgage spreads, the\u200b gap \u2064between the 10-year Treasury and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mortgage-applications-fall-to-lowest-level-since-december-2019\/\" title=\"Mortgage Applications Fall to Lowest Level Since December 2019\">30-year fixed-rate mortgages<\/a>, have widened to three percentage points or more. The\u200b reasons behind this phenomenon remain\u2064 unclear.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Long Road Ahead for Mortgage Rates<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While there is hope that\u2063 mortgage\u2063 rates will gradually improve as the Fed begins to\u200c cut rates, O&#8217;Connor\u200d believes it will take\u2062 time before rates return to pre-pandemic levels. Just before\u200c the pandemic hit, rates ranged\u200d from 3.5% to 4%, a far cry from the current\u2063 7.09%.<\/p>\n<p>O&#8217;Connor\u2064 concluded, &#8220;I don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s happening in the near-term at \u2063all&#8230; I just don&#8217;t\u200c see that \u2062happening.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Fed&#8217;s \u200cnext meeting is scheduled for September 19 and 20. Most\u2063 investors expect the \u200cFed to pause, with a \u200d90% probability of rates remaining steady, according to CME Group&#8217;s FedWatch\u2063 tool.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\">Click here<\/a> to read more from the\u200b Washington Examiner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>were this high was in 2000. It is uncertain when rates will decrease significantly, so potential borrowers may need to be patient. Currently, the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is 7.09%, which is more than twice the pre-interest rate hike average. This information is provided by Freddie Mac.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2006108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2006107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2006107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2006107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2006107\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2006108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2006107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2006107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2006107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}