Forecasts for policy pending from Thursday's Federal Open Market Committee's November meeting suggested it'll lower nonbank mortgage companies' financing costs, but the implications for their consumer customers were less clear.
The outlook ahead of the meeting's policy announcement called for a drop in short-term rates and, potentially, an action affecting the Fed's bond portfolio that could affect long ones.
The short-term rate decline was anticipated to reduce what
"We are going to get a benefit today from the decline that's going to happen, 25 or 50 basis points. I'm thinking it's going to be 25," said Larry Goldstone, president of capital markets and lending at BSI Financial, a nonbank that funds mortgages through warehouse lines of credit.
Forecasts for the predominant 30-year mortgage, which doesn't necessarily follow the Fed's short-term rate actions directionally, were less certain.
Ahead of the meeting Thursday morning, the 30-year rate was inching down on the day, in contrast to a recent
Read on to see how the meeting's outcome and its impact on mortgages shaped up on Thursday.