Why Mortgage Rates Have Been Stuck in Neutral All Summer

• August 14th

by UrbanTurf Staff

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If it feels like mortgage rates haven't budged much since the beginning of the summer, that's because they haven't.

The 30-year fixed rate has spent the season wedged between 6.5% and 6.7%, with the most recent reading at 6.67%, snapping a streak of five straight weekly increases. It's a range-bound stretch that's frustrating for anyone hoping rates would either break decisively lower or at least stop moving altogether.

The main culprit is inflation that won't fully cooperate. The Fed held rates steady for a third consecutive meeting in April and did so again in July. Mortgage rates don't track the Fed's rate directly — they follow the 10-year Treasury yield, which is far more sensitive to where investors think inflation is headed. When price growth refuses to cool convincingly, bond investors demand higher yields to compensate, and that pressure flows straight through to what DC-area buyers see on their rate lock.

Renewed U.S.-Iran tensions haven't helped either, pushing mortgage rates near a one-year high in late July, as the conflict constricted global oil supply and drove up fuel and other prices, lifting Treasury and mortgage yields in turn. Add a Fed under new leadership, and it's easy to see why the bond market has stayed cautious rather than pricing in relief. Bankrate's latest weekly outlook summed up the standoff: inflation data has come in exactly as forecast, giving the market nothing to react to, and rates are likely to stay flat until there's a cleaner inflation trend or a resolution in Iran.

For DC-area buyers, this summer's window — not the sub-6% dip some hoped for, but nowhere near last year's highs — is probably close to what to expect through year-end. Fannie Mae's June forecast had rates hovering around 6.4% through December, while the MBA projects roughly 6.5% for the rest of the year. Neither points to a dramatic move, meaning the real action this fall will likely play out on the inventory and pricing side of the market rather than in rates.

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.production.logicbrush.com/articles/blog/why_mortgage_rates_have_been_stuck_in_neutral_all_summer/24898.