Rates on 30-year mortgages tacked on a single basis point Thursday, nudging the flagship average up to 6.80%. That keeps it near its cheapest reading since a week before Christmas. Rates for several other mortgage types meanwhile moved slightly higher.
| National Averages of Lenders’ Best Mortgage Rates | |
|---|---|
| Loan Type | New Purchase |
| 30-Year Fixed | 6.80% |
| FHA 30-Year Fixed | 7.08% |
| 15-Year Fixed | 5.95% |
| Jumbo 30-Year Fixed | 6.76% |
| 5/6 ARM | 7.31% |
| Provided via the Zillow Mortgage API | |
Since rates vary widely across lenders, it’s always smart to shop around for your best mortgage rate and compare rates regularly, no matter the type of home loan you seek.
Today’s New Purchase Mortgage Rate Averages
Rates on 30-year new purchase mortgages added just 1 basis point Thursday, to a 6.80% average. That’s after dropping the previous day to the lowest reading in more than seven weeks. Just three weeks ago, the 30-year average had jumped to 7.13%—a 7-month high.
Back in September, rates plummeted, falling as far as a 2-year low of 5.89%. In the ensuing three months, however, the average surged almost 1.25 percentage points—before recently moving lower.
Rewinding further, the 30-year average notched a high 7.37% last spring, so today’s rates are significantly improved versus nine months ago. They’re also about 1.2 percentage points cheaper than the historic 23-year peak of 8.01% reached in October 2023.
Rates on 15-year mortgages ticked up 4 basis points Thursday to average 5.95%—also near a 7-week low. Like its 30-year sibling, the 15-year average sank to a two-year low in September, falling below the 5% mark to 4.97%. Though today’s 15-year average is elevated, it remains about 1.15 percentage points below October 2023’s historic 7.08% reading—a high since 2000.
Jumbo 30-year mortgage rates meanwhile marked time Thursday, holding at an average of 6.76%. That’s similar to last week’s 7-week low of 6.75%. In September, jumbo 30-year rates plummeted to 6.24%, their cheapest average in 19 months. Meanwhile, it’s estimated that the 8.14% peak of October 2023 was the most expensive jumbo 30-year average in 20-plus years.
| National Averages of Lenders’ Best Rates – New Purchase | ||
|---|---|---|
| Loan Type | New Purchase Rates | Daily Change |
| 30-Year Fixed | 6.80% | +0.01 |
| FHA 30-Year Fixed | 7.08% | +0.01 |
| VA 30-Year Fixed | 6.31% | No Change |
| 20-Year Fixed | 6.56% | No Change |
| 15-Year Fixed | 5.95% | +0.04 |
| FHA 15-Year Fixed | 6.78% | +0.07 |
| 10-Year Fixed | 5.77% | -0.25 |
| 7/6 ARM | 7.26% | +0.05 |
| 5/6 ARM | 7.31% | +0.03 |
| Jumbo 30-Year Fixed | 6.76% | No Change |
| Jumbo 15-Year Fixed | 6.76% | +0.05 |
| Jumbo 7/6 ARM | 7.04% | No Change |
| Jumbo 5/6 ARM | 7.06% | +0.01 |
| Provided via the Zillow Mortgage API | ||
The Weekly Freddie Mac Average
Every Thursday, Freddie Mac, a government-sponsored buyer of mortgage loans, publishes a weekly average of 30-year mortgage rates. Yesterday’s reading edged down 6 basis points, lowering the average to 6.89%. As recently as Sept. 26, the average had sunk as low as 6.08%. Back in October 2023, however, Freddie Mac’s average saw a historic rise, surging to a 23-year peak of 7.79%.
Freddie Mac’s average differs from what we report for 30-year rates because Freddie Mac calculates a weekly average that blends five previous days of rates. In contrast, our Investopedia 30-year average is a daily reading, offering a more precise and timely indicator of rate movement. In addition, the criteria for included loans (e.g., amount of down payment, credit score, inclusion of discount points) varies between Freddie Mac’s methodology and our own.
Calculate monthly payments for different loan scenarios with our Mortgage Calculator.
The rates we publish won’t compare directly with teaser rates you see advertised online since those rates are cherry-picked as the most attractive vs. the averages you see here. Teaser rates may involve paying points in advance or may be based on a hypothetical borrower with an ultra-high credit score or for a smaller-than-typical loan. The rate you ultimately secure will be based on factors like your credit score, income, and more, so it can vary from the averages you see here.
What Causes Mortgage Rates to Rise or Fall?
Mortgage rates are determined by a complex interaction of macroeconomic and industry factors, such as:
- The level and direction of the bond market, especially 10-year Treasury yields
- The Federal Reserve’s current monetary policy, especially as it relates to bond buying and funding government-backed mortgages
- Competition between mortgage lenders and across loan types
Because any number of these can cause fluctuations simultaneously, it’s generally difficult to attribute the change to any one factor.
Macroeconomic factors kept the mortgage market relatively low for much of 2021. In particular, the Federal Reserve had been buying billions of dollars of bonds in response to the pandemic’s economic pressures. This bond-buying policy is a major influencer of mortgage rates.
But starting in November 2021, the Fed began tapering its bond purchases downward, making sizable reductions each month until reaching net zero in March 2022.
Between that time and July 2023, the Fed aggressively raised the federal funds rate to fight decades-high inflation. While the fed funds rate can influence mortgage rates, it doesn’t directly do so. In fact, the fed funds rate and mortgage rates can move in opposite directions.
But given the historic speed and magnitude of the Fed’s 2022 and 2023 rate increases—raising the benchmark rate 5.25 percentage points over 16 months—even the indirect influence of the fed funds rate has resulted in a dramatic upward impact on mortgage rates over the last two years.
The Fed maintained the federal funds rate at its peak level for almost 14 months, beginning in July 2023. But in September, the central bank announced a first rate cut of 0.50 percentage points, and then followed that with quarter-point reductions in November and December.
For its first meeting of the new year, however, the Fed opted to hold rates steady—and it’s possible the central bank may not make another rate cut for months. At their Dec. 18 meeting, the Fed released its quarterly rate forecast, which showed that, at that time, the central bankers’ median expectation for the coming year was just two quarter-point rate cuts. With a total of eight rate-setting meetings scheduled per year, that means we could see multiple rate-hold announcements in 2025.
How We Track Mortgage Rates
The national and state averages cited above are provided as is via the Zillow Mortgage API, assuming a loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of 80% (i.e., a down payment of at least 20%) and an applicant credit score in the 680–739 range. The resulting rates represent what borrowers should expect when receiving quotes from lenders based on their qualifications, which may vary from advertised teaser rates. © Zillow, Inc., 2024. Use is subject to the Zillow Terms of Use.