Tim Maxwell at CBS News asked whether mortgage rates could fall without another Fed cut. The 30-year rate had dropped to 5.98% in late February 2026, climbed back to 6.53% by the end of May, and sat around 6.5% in mid-July. Plenty of buyers were waiting for the next dip.
My answer was about behavior more than forecasting. Rate timing is a bet, not a plan, and most people lose that bet by waiting too long. Mortgage rates track the 10-year Treasury and mortgage spreads, not the Fed's overnight rate directly, so they can move either way regardless of what the Fed does at its next meeting.
I shared a client example. He wanted to hold out for another half-point drop before buying. When we ran the numbers, home prices in his market were rising fast enough to erase the savings from a lower rate within months. He bought the house, then refinanced eight months later when rates came down. He got the home he wanted and the lower rate. Waiting would have gotten him neither.
If you have found the right home and the payment works at today's rate, buy it. The rate is temporary and can be refinanced. The house you passed on is gone.
Read the full article at CBS →
