For the third meeting in a row, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates—a “hawkish” move in an effort to help a softening labor market. The 0.25% cut brought the interest rate range to 3.5% to 3.75%—but economists and housing experts warn that’s not going to have the result for mortgage rates potential homebuyers were hoping for.

Chen Zhao, the head of economics research at Redfin, wrote in a Wednesday post that the Fed’s December interest-rate cut won’t move mortgage rates “because markets have already priced it in.”

The Federal Reserve controls the federal funds rate, which is a rate that banks charge each other and is more closely tied to credit cards, personal loans, and home-equity lines. A standard 30-year mortgage, on the other hand, is a long-term loan, and the pricing of those lo

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