The Federal Reserve’s decision to end its era of easy money is rippling through the mortgage market, driving up the cost of buying a home.
The central bank had been the biggest buyer of pools of home loans since the start of the pandemic. Now it is reversing course, winding down its purchases and laying the groundwork to shrink the $2.7 trillion stockpile it has built up. These mortgage-backed securities, hot investments for much of the pandemic, are now selling off.