The Federal Reserve announced this morning that they will be holding off on raising their interest rates today. This statement has many implications, but we would like to focus on how this will impact house building!

The Federal Reserve’s financial policy body, the Federal Open Market Committee, collectively decided to keep the federal fund’s top rate at 2.5%. Since the beginning of January, the 10-year Treasury rate has slightly recovered to 2.76%, lower than at the start of November. This decline has contributed to decreased mortgage interest rates in the last few weeks. According to Freddie Mac, the average market rate was 4.45% at the end of January.

These changes are more favorable for housing market conditions 2019, which are currently challenged by increasing anxieties over housing affordability and slow growth for home building.