The Federal Open Market Committee will announce its next scheduled decision on interest rates on December 18. A rate cut is likely but far from certain.

When inflation is high and the economy is in overdrive, the Fed tries to pump the brakes by discouraging borrowing. It does this by setting higher interest rates and decreasing the money supply. Since March 2022, the Fed raised the federal funds rate 11 times, which helped slow down record-high price growth.

These are today's mortgage and refinance rates. If the Fed ends up keeping rates steady next month, we could see mortgage rates tick up slightly.

Rate movement for other mortgage types was mixed Monday, though no rate averages moved more than 4 basis points. Because rates vary widely across lenders, it's always smart to shop around for your best mortgage rate and compare rates regularly,