Mortgage Rates Hit Lowest Point Since 2023

The U.S. Housing Market may be slightly more accessible now, with average rates on 30-year fixed mortgages dropping to 6.47%, a rate that has not been seen since May 2023.

The Details: Information, released by mortgage-finance giant Freddie Mac on Thursday, revealed the most drastic rate decline in about 9 months. This comes amid a subpar jobs report and a tumultuous week in the stock market, leading many to speculate, not on whether the Federal Reserve will issue rate cuts in either July or September, but rather on how big those cuts might be.

For Context: The dropping mortgage rates, although partly due to the Fed’s expected rate drops, are not explicitly controlled by the Federal Reserve. Mortgage rates are closely tied to the Bond market, specifically the yields on 10-year Treasury bonds, which following the jobs report and expected Fed cuts fell sharply, causing Mortgage rates to follow suit. 

How The Media Covered It: Media across the political spectrum agreed that the lower rates were due in part to the jobs report and markets but highlighted differing concerns for the future. Outlets on the right, like Fox Business (Lean Right bias), focused on how the upcoming 2024 presidential election was altering many people’s buying decisions, causing them to postpone any major moves until after the elections. Outlets on the left tended to focus on sentiments for housing market futures but also tended to omit the presidential elections as a factor.