Fed Pauses Again: Housing in Focus

The Federal Reserve’s monetary policy committee held the federal funds rate at a top target rate of 5.5% at the conclusion of its November meeting. While noting that the Fed was “strongly” committed to reducing inflation to its target rate, this marked the second meeting in a row of no increase as the central bank…

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Downshift for the Fed

Downshifting its pace of tightening of monetary policy, the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy committee raised the federal funds target rate by 50 basis points, increasing that target to an upper bound of 4.5%. This marked a relatively smaller increase after four previous 75 basis point hikes. The Fed has clearly communicated it will continue to…

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Inflation Shifts to Slowest Pace Since January

Consumer prices in October saw the smallest year-over-year gain since January 2022, and while still elevated, inflation experienced the first month below an 8% annual growth rate since February 2022. However, the shelter index continued to rise at an accelerated pace and the energy index increased after declining for three straight months. As inflation appears…

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