It looks like the fed is getting out of the housing market and dropping their mortgage backed securities. They've added $38 billion in December to replace $15b of mortgage backed securities.
While MBSs, considered to be highly liquid, they aren't quite as liquid as T bills, and aren't as predictable. They tossed another $23b into the system for good measure.
The argument for why this isnt QE, is that the Fed is returning to the pre 2008 baseline where the feds balance sheet naturally grew to keep up with the GDP, and unlike QE, it isn't meant to stimulate the economy or lower long term intrest rates.
Regardless of the feds intentions though, they are injecting billions of dollars into the banking system. Call it reserve management all you want, but there's bound to be stimulatory effects. I wouldn't expect to see the massive liquidity blowouts we saw in 2008, or 2020, but it will certainly grease the wheels a bit.
I wonder if they'll stay out of the housing market should prices start falling
It depends on how fast they're falling I would guess. If it just cools off a bit, probably not, that's likely what they would want to see anyway.
Solid take even if it’s framed as balance sheet normalization and reserve management, shifting into more liquid Treasuries still adds cash to the system