Contrary to popular belief, the Federal Reserve does not directly affect mortgage rates.
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Today I wanted to answer a question I’m asked frequently, which is, “Does the Federal Reserve directly control mortgage rates?”
The short answer, actually, is no. Contrary to popular belief, the Federal Reserve raising interest rates does not directly impact mortgage rates. For example, after Brexit this past summer, there was quite a bit of uncertainty in the global financial markets. As a result, that drove big investment capital to look somewhere else for a very stable and secure return. There were more investors in the secondary bond markets looking at mortgage bonds, so more bond investors actually gave us lower interest rates.
More bond investors actually means lower interest rates.
