Federal Reserve Board Takes Strong Action to Keep Rates Low

On March 18, 2009, the Federal Reserve Board announced it would purchase up to an additional $750 billion of mortgage backed securities guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. This new commitment is in addition to the existing $500 billion program, raising the initiative to $1.25 trillion. The Fed also announced it would increase its purchase of Fannie and Freddie debt from $100 billion to $200 billion. This very significant additional commitment to support Fannie and Freddie will translate into lower mortgage interest rates and will keep rates low. NAR has urged the Fed and Treasury Secretary Geithner to take action to reduce rates and to continue their mortgage backed securities purchase programs.