One day after Donald Trump’s election win, investors sent debt safety yields sharply higher. The “Trump trade” is likely to keep rates for home loans rising, no matter what the Federal safety net does on Thursday when it announces whether it will cut a key gain rate, experts declare.

That means that anyone looking to buy a home or lock in a lower refinance rate will have to seize any chance they get over the next few weeks before rates head higher for what could be a while.

“Rates have moved in a path that suggests investors are preparing for either more expense boost or stronger market advancement,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist for Realtor.com. “Either way, it does seem likely, at least in the short term, that mortgage rates are going to leave higher.”

When the Fed announces its selection, economists largely expect a cut of 25 basis points. Mortgage rates generally pursue the path of that point of reference rate – but not recently. When the Fed met in September, it cut rates by 50 basis points. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.20% at that period, according to Freddie Mac data. By last week, it had topped 6.72%. Freddie will release the most recent week’s rates Thursday morning.

What will mortgage rates do post-election?

Rates aren’t likely to reverse course any period soon, said luminous MLS Chief Economist Lisa Sturtevant in emailed comments.

Buy that aspiration house: view the best mortgage lenders

“Trump’s budgetary policies can be expected to navigator to rising and more unpredictable mortgage rates through the complete of this year and into 2025,” she said. “debt safety yields are rising because investors expect Trump’s proposed budgetary policies to widen the federal deficit and reverse advancement on expense boost.”

More:expense boost is trending down. Try telling that to the housing trade.

Economists and investors depend Trump’s policies will be inflationary because responsibility cuts will likely force the federal government to issue more obligation, Sturtevant noted. If that happens, the government will have to pay more to attract investors. His promises to enact tariffs on imported goods will also boost prices.

“A reversal in expense boost, which has been falling for most of the history two years, would complicate the Federal safety net’s rate cutting selection,” Sturtevant added. “If the Fed holds back on rate cuts, mortgage rates could remain higher for longer.”

Should you lock in a lower rate now?

Nina Gidwaney, head of refinance and home stake at Chase Home Lending First, notes that it’s “nearly unfeasible” for consumers to period the trade. “We depend that the trade has already priced in a 25-basis point Fed rate cut and this is reflected in current mortgage rates,” she said.

But Hale believes that anyone looking to lock in a lower mortgage rate, whether for buying a home or debt restructuring a mortgage obtained in the history few years, might have a slim window of chance in the coming weeks if some of Tuesday’s trade moves retrench. “Markets sometimes tend to overreact, and I ponder some of what we’re seeing now could be an overreaction,” she told USA TODAY.

For anyone who’s been trying to buy, the final few weeks of the year may propose some chance, Hale said. The number of homes listed for sale has been increasing steadily over the history several months, reaching its highest point since before the pandemic in October, according to Realtor.com data. Prices have also softened slightly as they often do in the fall. The median national worth of a home listed for sale is now the same as it was a year ago, at $424,950.

That may transformation soon, Sturtevant said. “The housing trade was just beginning to feel as though it was moving more toward equilibrium following the unprecedented impacts of a global pandemic and related responses,” she wrote. “The next few months could be a challenging period for prospective homebuyers. “