Editor's Note: Investopedia will not publish daily mortgage rate news on Monday, Oct. 14, in observance of Indigenous Peoples' Day/Columbus Day. We will return to our daily rate coverage on Tuesday, Oct. 15.

Rates on 30-year new purchase mortgages were flat at 6.52% on Thursday, after inching up a single basis point the day before. That pauses a three-week rise that's pushed the flagship average well above the under-6% reading we saw in September—a two-year low. Other new purchase mortgage rates showed mixed movement on Thursday.

Because rates vary widely across lenders, it's always smart to shop around for 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:your best mortgage rate and compare rates regula🌱rly, no matter the type of ꦚhome loan you seek.

Today's New Purchase Mortgage Rate Averages

Rates on 30-year new purchase mortgages held at 6.52% on Thursday after edging up one 1 basis point the previous day. That's 63 basis points above the 5.89% reading we saw Sept. 17, which was the cheapest 30-year average recorded since September 2022.

But rates on 30-year mortgages still remain below July's high of 7.08%. They are also about 1.5 percentage points under the historic 23-year peak of 8.01%, reached last October.

Rates on 15-year mortgages ticked up 4 basis points to 5.63% on Thursday. Like 30-year rates, the 15-year average notched its own two-year low in September, sinking as far as 4.97%. Despite the recent increases, current 15-year rates remain almost 1.5 basis points below last fall's historic 7.08% peak—the highest average since 2000.

Jumbo 30-year rates added a single basis point Thursday, bringing the average to 6.67%. On Sept. 18, the jumbo 30-year reading of 6.24% was the lowest mark since February 2023. Although daily historical jumbo rates were not published before 2009, it's estimated that the 8.14% peak we saw last fall was the most expensive jumbo 30-year average in 20-plus years.

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 shot up 20 basis points to 6.32%, while the reading of 6.08% two weeks ago was the lowest average since September 2022. Last October, Freddie Mac's average surged to a historic 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 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Mortgage Calculator.

What Causes Mortgage Rates to Rise or Fall?

Mortgage rates are determined by a complex interaction of macroeconomic and industry factor🍌s, 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 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网: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 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:federal funds rate to fight decades-high inflation. Whiಞle 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 on Sept. 18, the central bank 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:announced the first rate cut in what's expected to be a series of decr🏅eases in 2024 and likely 2025. This first reduction was by 0.50 percentage points.

The Fed's next rate announcement will be made Nov. 7.

How We Track Mortgage Rates

The national and state averages cited above are provided as is via the Zillow Mortgage API, assuming a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网: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 r♐esulting rates represent what borrowers should expect when receiving quoꦏtes 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.