Business
Real Estate Industry Urges Powell to Stop Raising Interest Rates
Leading representatives from the real estate and banking industries are urging the Federal Reserve to refrain from raising interest rates as the sector struggles with rising housing costs and a “record shortage” of open houses.
The officials expressed their concerns about the path of monetary policy and its effects on the troubled real estate market in a letter sent to the Fed Board of Governors and Chair Jerome Powell on Monday.
The National Association of Home Builders, the Mortgage Bankers Association and the National Association of Realtors said they penned the letter “to convey profound concern shared among our collective memberships that ongoing market uncertainty about the Fed’s rate path is contributing to recent interest rate hikes and volatility.”
Until the housing market has steadied, the groups urge the Fed to “contemplate further rate hikes” and refrain from actively selling its mortgage securities holdings.
“We urge the Fed to take these simple steps to ensure that this sector does not precipitate the hard landing the Fed has tried so hard to avoid,” the group stated.
The letter was written at a time when the Fed is debating how to move forward with monetary policy following 11 increases to its benchmark borrowing rate since March 2022.
Up Next:
