The Federal Reserve voted Sept. 17 to cut the federal funds rate by one quarter of a percentage point. It was a move long anticipated by financial markets, and also by regular folks watching the housing market: Potential home buyers who’ve been sidelined by high mortgage interest rates and newer homeowners hoping to refinance their loans.

Here’s what the Fed’s latest move could mean for mortgage interest rates, home buyers and refinancers.

Mortgage rates have already dropped

The Fed uses a key short-term borrowing rate to influence the broader economy. Those changes don’t directly alter mortgage interest rates , and in recent cycles, rates have moved ahead of official decisions from the central bankers. Mortgage rates tend to take their cues from bond markets, and in the run-up to S

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