What Makes Mortgage Rates Change?
Mortgage rates are inherently complicated, seemingly not possible to comprehend from a consumer perspective. Fluctuations in mortgage market rates are definitely not random, however; a great many factors determine the current market rate at any given time. Discerning the key contributors and understanding how they impact mortgage rates can allow you to calculate logical predictions for market fluctuations –a valuable skill for consumers to determine when to buy, when to sell and when to stay put for optimal returns.
Market Demand
Consumer demand is the head of market-driven models, and mortgage rates aren’t any exception. The more consumers want something, the more expensive it becomes, and the home market is surely no exception. When consumers are not interested in purchasing, home prices drop, and mortgage rates fall alongside to drum up more interest. When consumer interests piques, prices increase and rates goes up to compensate.
Market Availability
Even when demand is high, market accessibility can hinder interest. As with purchasing, the home market goes via regular intervals of high and low selling intervals. When homeowners are more interested in staying put, the market finds a decrease in available houses, and mortgage rates coincide. When more homeowners market, market accessibility goes up, and rates grow after more.
Market Investors
The reverse side of the consumer is the investor, who invests in the securities that fund every bank’s mortgage lending enterprise. Investors want the greatest possible return on their investment, and thus, the highest interest rate offered. This obviously directly conflicts with the consumer drive for lower rates of interest. Banks must find a steady balance between consumer- and investor-desired rates; when mortgage rates drop too low, purchasing gains, but investing decreases, leaving less accessible book to cover lending. When the opposite happens, investing raises while purchasing drops, and investors view significantly less return.
Economic Health
The market’s collective”funding” plays a huge role in the changing mortgage rates. After the economy enjoys regular cash flow, lenders view this as an opportunity to draw more revenue. Rates typically increase, because consumers have more money to spend and a regular desire to spend it. Conversely when the economy starts to suffer, the economy sees reduced cash flow, and creditors struggle to keep business. Rates drop to improve spending ability, which stimulates the economy by increasing cash flow once more and brings the procedure full-circle.
Federal Reserve System
The Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve or”Fed”) is a central bank in the United States that, among other matters, exercises significant influence over the status and practices of personal financial institutions. Through the bank’s monetary policy, the Federal Reserve not only affects the current rate of interest in any given time, but also defines the book amount that each bank needs to have available and how much of that book each bank may lend. When monetary policy increases personal reserves, interest rates fall in a bid to stimulate spending and growth. Conversely, when policy decreases reserves, interest rates increase and, while the goal is stabilization, spending often drops off.