According to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve will purchase additional agency mortgage-backed securities at a pace of $40 billion per month in an effort to lower mortgage rates, support mortgage markets and generally improve financial conditions of the country.

“The Committee is concerned that, without further policy accommodation, economic growth might not be strong enough to generate sustained improvement in labor market conditions,” said the Federal Open Market Committee.

The Committee also announced it would maintain its existing policy of reinvesting principal payments from its holdings of agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities also in an effort to lower mortgage rates.

To read the entire Federal Reserve press release, click here.