What Happens If The Fed Raises Rates?

If the Fed raises rates a quarter point, that does not directly correlate to a quarter-point increase in mortgage rates. The average rate on the 30-year fixed loosely follows the direction of the yield on the 10-year Treasury bond. If rates did move a quarter-point higher, they would still be lower than they were in 2013, when the Federal Reserve first announced it would start to “taper” its investment in mortgage-backed bonds.