NORTH CAROLINA (WTVD) — The Federal Reserve moved forward with a cut in interest rates by a quarter pointa measure that could ease borrowing pressure in several sectors.

Thursday’s decision follows a half-point reduction in September. Despite this, mortgage rates have risen steadily in recent weeks, complicating a largely sluggish housing market.

“I think people will kind of see where the rates are going and then make a decision early next year,” said Alex Lawrence, a real estate agent with Dogwood Properties.

For most of the year, 30 years mortgage rates remained between six and seven percent, and 15-year mortgage rates are between five and six and a half percent, rates significantly higher than a few years earlier.

“For a long time, in the last few years, people were saying, ‘Hey, I’m going to wait until rates go back to 2 or 3 percent.’ I think we’re finally seeing that they’re not going to go back to 2 or 3 percent. that far,” Lawrence said.

“I’ve probably had 17 to 18 real estate agents call me because they see the ad and they’re looking for something to sell and they’re really expressing a lot of concern about the rate environment. “interest,” noted Rick Horner, whose family is selling property in North Raleigh.

At this point, the Horner family is not using a real estate agent. A former state senator, he believes passing elections could motivate people to make decisions.

“It’s a psychological question. And I think you’ll see some activity now that this is over, because the biggest thing, the number one thing that markets hate is they don’t like a Democrat nor a Republican. They just don’t like uncertainty,” Horner said.

Respective budgets also play a role, with more expensive homes being less affected by slight variations in mortgage rates.

“People who are still in that lower price point, I think interest rates are affecting them even more,” Lawrence said.

According to Porteifythe number of active listings in Wake County has increased nearly 50% since January, with Lawrence predicting 2025 will bring greater normalization.

“If you’re in a hot area like Raleigh, the house is turnkey, it’s priced right, it’s going to sell. But they’ve obviously had an impact on rates over the last couple of years. So I think that the outside markets, like Angier or Franklinton (or) Oxford, they’re hit a little harder than Raleigh and the Greater Triangle,” Lawrence explained.

Falling interest rates have impacted other forms of borrowing, including credit card debt and auto loans.

“The interest rates on (credit cards) are so high, so anything you can do to avoid that debt, we advise people to look into,” said Gerald Cohen, chief economist at Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise.

WATCH | Other areas affected by falling interest rates

According to Data from EdmundsNorth Carolina has the second lowest APR on new cars in the Southeast, with the average APR on used vehicles having fallen for four straight months.

“The supply chain has caught up. Automakers are finding their sales lots are full of cars and demand is weakening due to rising interest rates. So automakers are now implementing incentives to sell cars,” Cohen said.

Analysts are bracing for the possibility that the Federal Reserve will institute another rate cut at its meeting next month.

“The markets have moved a little bit. There’s only about a two in three chance of a rate cut in December, and I think that in some ways reflects the question of why mortgage rates have gone up. This What happened was the economic data came in. It kind of changed the expectations for the Fed, so I think there’s been a pretty big shift over the last couple of years. months in the markets’ perception of how deep the Fed will cut and how quickly they will do so because long-term interest rates are essentially a series of short-term interest rates, the. Long-term interest rates have been rising even though the Fed has cut rates, and in general, if you look at long-term interest rates, there is a gap between Treasury rates and mortgage rates. whether Treasury rates go up or down, mortgage rates go up as well,” Cohen explained.