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- Housing experts were betting on mortgage rates to decline this year on looser Fed policy.
- Yet, the 30-year mortgage rate has been stuck around 7% all year.
- Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae say they expect mortgages to stay in the 7% range through 2024.
Interest rate forecasts have been volatile through 2024, as early bets for a policy pivot have consistently been let down.
With the Federal Reserve looking unlikely to ease rates before September, housing market analysts are recalibrating mortgage rate outlooks, as home loan rates are heavily influenced by the Fed funds rate.
Following the excitement of waning inflation at the end of 2023, which prompted calls for as many as seven Fed rate cuts in 2024, a string of discouraging consumer price index reports in the first quarter has prompted a shift.