Home / Market updates / January 30, 2026
Portland Mortgage Market Update — January 30, 2026
Written Friday, January 30, 2026 by Mark Ruhl, NMLS #105591
It was Fed Week! Which usually has the potential to sway the market one way or another, either by the Fed changing their rate or by comments made by Chairman Powell after the meeting. This time there was… not much at all! They kept rates the same and his post-meeting comments were a pretty sizeable nothing-burger. The only real big Fed news came this morning when President Trump announced his pick for the Jerome Powell's replacement in May, Kevin Warsh. Warsh previously served as a voting member on the Fed, serving from 2006-2011 through the global financial crisis. He has been critical of the current Fed being too backwards looking (data-dependent) and should be more likely to see through the lags in inflation and overstatement of jobs figures. This pick is being seen as a move to bolster Fed independence and Stocks and Bonds are seeing a slight selloff as a result.
But the market should recover. Over the past year the US dollar fell 10% as global investors lost confidence in the US and its projected policies. This pick helps stabilize up the dollar and we are seeing that already as gold, silver and precious metals are falling after the Warsh pick. Immediately, the markets at large are weaker because investors are looking for near-term gains and this Warsh pick is less "aggressive" as some of the other candidates for that, but by shoring up the dollar we should hopefully see Treasury Yields simmer down which would be good for interest rates long-term.
NEW PRODUCT ALERT! We had our annual company meeting yesterday and we have some exciting new loan products to announce that are available through our in-house bank. That means we get the speed and ease of underwriting of Mortgage Express Lending, without the cumbersome broker process for some exciting new loan options including:
• 100% financing with Down Payment Assistance • Hobby Farms up to 150 acres • Jumbo loans in house! • Fannie/Freddie direct lending (coming soon and should mean lower rates overall) • Fixed rate second mortgages
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