The market’s fortunes have improved amid indications that inflation is trending in the right direction and the expectation that the Federal Reserve will cut its key interest rate before the end of the year.
Still, the Fed struck a hawkish tone in its last rate decision, which saw the central bank signal its expectation that it will cut rates just once before January.
For Lamont Harris, Jr. (pictured top), president and chief executive officer at Harris Capital Mortgage Group, that continuing caution by the Fed means mortgage market watchers should brace themselves for the likelihood of high rates continuing for the remainder of the year – although there’s also room for optimism looking ahead.
“I think with the environment that I’m looking at right now, I feel like the rates are going to continue to go up,” he told Mortgage Professional America. “Second, third quarter, I don’t see any trend to go in a different direction before we move towards Q4.
“The end of Q4 going into Q1 next year, we’ll probably see some adjustments, but those adjustments will be to the high rates that we had all endured for the summer. So with that, expect temporary relief into Q1 – but I think we’ve got a lot of good times ahead of us, so we’ve just got to stay the course.”
