The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. has eased for the third week in a row, providing a small reprieve for prospective home shoppers entering the market before the busy spring homebuying season begins. According to Freddie Mac, the average rate fell to 6.89% from 6.95% last week. A year ago, it averaged 6.64%.<\/p>\n
Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners seeking to refinance their home loan to a lower rate, also retreated this week. The average rate fell to 6.05% from 6.12% last week. A year ago, it averaged 5.9%, Freddie Mac said.<\/p>\n
Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, including how the bond market reacts to the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions. The average rate on a 30-year mortgage briefly fell to a 2-year low just above 6% last September, but has been mostly rising since then, echoing a sharp rise in the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide for pricing home loans.<\/p>\n
The yield, which was at 3.62% in mid-September, reached 4.79% three weeks ago amid fears inflation may remain stubbornly higher than the Fed’s 2% target. A solid U.S. economy and worries about tariffs and other policies potentially coming from President Donald Trump have also helped push bond yields higher. The 10-year Treasury yield was at 4.43% in midday trading Thursday.<\/p>\n
Elevated mortgage rates, which can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers, have discouraged home shoppers, prolonging a national home sales slump that began in 2022. While sales of previously occupied U.S. homes rose in December for the third month in a row, 2024 was the worst year for home sales in nearly 30 years, worse than 2023, which had been the worst in decades.<\/p>\n
New data on pending home sales points to potentially further declines in coming months. The National Association of Realtor’s pending home sales index fell 5.5% in December from the previous month, ending a four-month streak of increases. A lag of a month or two usually exists between when a contract is signed and when the home sale is finalized, which makes pending home sales a bellwether for future completed home sales.<\/p>\n
For those hoping that mortgage rates will retreat significantly, economists say that’s unlikely. Forecasts mostly call for the average rate on a 30-year mortgage to remain above 6% this year, with some economists including an upper range as high as 6.8%. The Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rate unchanged last week after cutting it three times in a row to close 2024, a sign of a more cautious approach as the Fed seeks to gauge where inflation is headed and what policies the Trump administration will pursue.<\/p>\n
The average rate on a 30-year mortgage has fallen for the third week in a row, providing a small reprieve for prospective home shoppers. However, economists forecast mortgage rates to remain above 6% this year, which may continue to discourage home shoppers and prolong the national home sales slump.<\/p>\n
* What is the current average rate on a 30-year mortgage?
\n\t+ The current average rate on a 30-year mortgage is 6.89%.
\n* What is the current average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage?
\n\t+ The current average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage is 6.05%.
\n* Why are mortgage rates influenced by the bond market and Federal Reserve policy?
\n\t+ Mortgage rates are influenced by the bond market and Federal Reserve policy because the 10-year Treasury yield is used as a guide for pricing home loans.
\n* What is the forecast for mortgage rates this year?
\n\t+ Economists forecast the average rate on a 30-year mortgage to remain above 6% this year, with some economists including an upper range as high as 6.8%.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Average US Rate on a 30-year Mortgage Falls to 6.89%, Third Straight Weekly Decline Mortgage Rates Ease for Third Week in a Row The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. has eased for the third week in a row, providing a small reprieve for prospective home shoppers entering the market before the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7562,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7561","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-real-estate"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.sun-sentinel.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Mortgage_Rates_34169.jpg?w=1024&h=682&w=1024&resize=1024,682&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7561"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7561"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7563,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7561\/revisions\/7563"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}