Rates on 30-year new purchase mortgages climbed back to a 6.88% average Thursday, matching a 3-month high from earlier in the week. Mortgage rates have surged since sinking to a 2-year low in mid-September, with Tuesday registering the most expensive average since July. Rate movement for other new purchase mortgage rates was mixed Thursday, with many loan types registering no cha🐼nge or ꦦsmall increases.

Because 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 tacked on 5 basis points Thursday, bringing the flagship average to 6.88%. This matches Tuesday's 6.88% reading, which was the highest 30-year average since July 9. The current average rate is almost a full percentage point above the two-year low enjoyed last month—a Sept. 17 reading of 5.89%.

Rates on 30-year mortgages still remain below July's high of 7.08%. They are also almost 1.2 percentage points cheaper than the historic 23-year peak of 8.01% reached last October.

Rates on 15-year mortgages ticked up 1 basis point Thursday, reaching a 5.99% average. Tuesday's 6.05% average was the most expensive mark for 15-year rates since early July. Like 30-year loans, 15-year rates recorded their own two-year low in September, sinking as far as 4.97%. Still, today's 15-year rates remain more than a percentage point below last fall's historic 7.08% peak—a peak since 2000.

Jumbo 30-year rates were flat Thursday, maintaining a 6.81% average after dropping down from a two-and-a-half-month high. Back in September, rates on jumbo 30-year loans had dropped to 6.24%, their lowest average since February 2023. Although daily historical jumbo rates weren't 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 another 18 basis points, to 6.72%, while the reading of 6.08% five 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 𒀰a 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 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. While the fed funds rate can influence mortgage rates, it doesn't𝓀 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 decreases in 2024 and likely 2025. This first reduction wa👍s 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 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.