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The Fed kept rates steady at their latest meeting, citing stubbornly high inflation and low unemployment. And Jerome Powell implied that rates might be on hold for a while. A new Fed Chairman should be announced soon (but he won’t assume the role until May). Meanwhile, more signs of improving buyer demand in the Case-Shiller home price numbers.

The Fed’s preferred inflation measure came in as expected, while winter weather and the holidays slowed momentum in signed housing contracts.

December and January are two of the slowest months of the year for home sales. But the spring selling season is around the corner (things really start perking up in March), and if mortgage rates can stay in the low 6% range, activity levels should surge.