Interest Rates to Hold Steady

So, the lazy days of summer have arrived along with the perpensity for vegetation, the human kind. Even as my fevered tracking of the housing market has waned, I'm still keeping an eye on interest and mortgage rates. Merrill Lynch & Co. and Goldman, Sachs & Co. recently announced that they don't expect the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates meaning that the healthy yeilds for money market funds would hold steady at 5.25%. At the same time, however, mortgage rates will likely rise. The average rate on 30-year conventional mortgages nationwide was at a nine-month high of 6.42% last week, up from 6.37% the previous week, according to mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac. I never thought I'd be interested in these types of figures. However, this news has a direct impact on little ole' me. One, I've parked my house down payment savings in a high yield CDs earning more interest than those accounts historically have offered. Second, the higher mortgage rates affect the monthly budget that I can work. Good thing the housing units for the area I'm interested in has begun to fall. Just this week, a house in the Greenhaven area listed for $171.77 per sq foot, the lowest I've seen yet. There is hope, afterall.