Not really a surprise.
Last June, 2022, in announcing a plan to hike rates through 2023, Powell said: "I'd say if you are a homebuyer, somebody or a young person looking to buy a home, you need a bit of a reset. We need to get back to a place where supply and demand are back together and where inflation is down low again, and mortgage rates are low again."
All of this seemed to come as a shock to some in the financial and real estate world who kept saying they wouldn't keep hiking rates, but would "pivot."
He said what they planned to do last June. Why some didn't take him at his word, I dunno, unless its just wishful thinking that an endless supply of 30 year mortgage money at 3% interest is how things were going to roll forever no matter how crazy it made the residential real estate market and drove up consumer prices on everything else.